Western Cape High Court Judge Anton Veldhuisen criticised the State for not providing fraud accused J Arthur Brown with the information he had asked for.
"If you have a docket as massive as this, you can't just dump it on the accused and say 'here's 46 files that we have based the case on', sort it out," the judge said.
The former Fidentia boss on Tuesday asked to be granted access to further financial records involving his multi-million rand fraud case.
Brown is defending himself after frequently changing his legal representation.
He was arrested in March 2007 and faces nine charges of fraud, theft, corruption and money-laundering. His case has been before the High Court for the past three years, but the trial has still not started.
Veldhuisen warned the State the accused had to be granted the information he had asked for.
"We've got to get this show on the road," he said.
He would postpone the case from day to day, "to ensure Brown does the homework required". Anything missing in the files "Brown must formally request".
The judge urged Brown to be ready to enter his plea and start the trial on Monday.
"I am going to be a bit of a slave driver. And you are going to be the slave," he said.
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