NPA ‘drags its feet’ in Life Esidimeni saga, mum on prosecuting Simelane

The NPA is yet to reach a decision on whether to criminally charge former Gauteng health officials in the Life Esidimeni matter but remained mum on whether former justice minister Thembi Simelane will be tried over her alleged involvement in the VBS Mutual Bank saga.

This was revealed by the Gauteng director of public prosecutions (DPP), Sibongile Mzinyathi, at a media briefing in Pretoria on Thursday.

He was providing an update on the Gauteng division's overall performance in 2023/24, strengthening its capacity as well as ongoing and completed court cases.

Speaking on the first, Mzinyathi said: “The division achieved a high conviction rate in the high court of 91.9%. This was 68 convictions out of 74 cases finalised. The regional courts during this period achieved a conviction rate of 83.3% — which is 1,540 convictions out of 1,837 cases finalised.

“Our district courts achieved a conviction rate of 96.3% — which is 12,640 convictions out of 13,130 cases finalised.”

Mzinyathi provided a breakdown of conviction rates in several prosecutions, including murder, femicide and trio crimes. On the first, he said the Gauteng division had achieved a 81.7% or 196 convictions from 240 cases finalised.

Among the most notable convictions he highlighted was that of Mamelodi taxi boss Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela, Robert Mutapa, Sipho Hudla and Bonginkosi Khumalo — who were each sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment for murdering North West businessman Wandile Bozwana, 10 years for the attempted murder of his business partner, six years for unlawful possession of a firearm and two years for unlawful possession of ammunition.

Their co-accused, KwaZulu-Natal taxi boss Senzo Mncube, is still on trial.

Turning to femicide, Mzinyathi said the NPA Gauteng had achieved a 100% conviction rate from 29 cases finalised. Intimate partner femicide saw a 97.2% conviction rate — which was 35 convictions from 36 cases finalised. 

Mzinyathi said the division secured an 80.5% conviction rate when it came to trio crimes — this translated into 103 convictions from 128 cases finalised.

“Several convictions in these cases were achieved in the high court, including a sizeable cash-in-transit heist that was orchestrated by a group of people including members of the [cash-in-transit] service providers. The main accused was the regional manager of SBV who was responsible for allocating routes,” he said.

The NPA in Gauteng achieved a 77.5% conviction rate in the sexual offences category — 306 convictions out of 389 finalised cases, and a 90.5% conviction rate in complex commercial crimes and corruption. The division secured 38 convictions out of 42 cases finalised.

Mzinyathi provided a progress report on several ongoing high-profile cases. These included the Steinhoff saga, the VBS Bank scandal and the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

“To date, the decision to prosecute the accused has not been made because there are still internal processes [such as] going carefully through the finding of the inquest to ensure that a well-informed decision is made,” he said on Life Esidimeni.

This is more than five months after the Pretoria high court found that former Gauteng health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and the province’s former head of mental health, Dr Makgabo Manamela, were negligent and responsible for some of the 144 Life Esidimeni psychiatric patients’ deaths.

Judge Mmonoa Teffo found that Mahlangu and Manamela can be held liable for the deaths of 10 of the patients after a two-year inquest hearing which saw 40 witnesses testify.

The DPP was questioned on whether his division will go after former justice minister Thembi Simelane over her alleged involvement in the VBS scandal. Simelane has been implicated in the scandal because of a loan she received from Gundo Wealth Solutions, a company linked to the collapse of the now-defunct VBS bank, while mayor of Polokwane.

She has since been moved from the justice ministry to the human settlements ministry in a mini-cabinet reshuffle this week.

“The VBS matter is a multipronged investigation that relates to several municipalities and in relation to the subjects of the investigation,” said Mzinyathi.

“Our response is that we don't want to comment on pending investigations because that may compromise the investigation itself.”

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