An acting Mpumalanga magistrate who struck the R2bn Kusile fraud and money laundering case involving former Eskom boss Matshela Koko and members of his family off the roll has not had his contract renewed.
Stanley Jacobs was cast in the spotlight recently when the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) announced that it had reported him to the magistrates commission for possible conflict by presiding over the case. He lost his acting magistrate job in March when his contract expired.
Tsekiso Machike, spokesperson of the ministry of justice and constitutional development, confirmed that Jacobs was no longer a magistrate, telling TimesLIVE Premium that his “last period of appointment” was from January 15 to March 31.
“Acting appointments are made for fixed periods. Yes, we can confirm that he was not considered for reappointment thereafter,” Machike said.
Asked for reasons for the non-renewal of Jacobs’ contract, Machike said: “We did not receive any further application from the regional court president (RCP) for the reappointment of Mr Jacobs after his period of appointment had expired.”
Machike said acting periods for magistrates may come to an end for a number of reasons, including when a permanent magistrate returns or a permanent magistrate gets appointed to a vacant post.
“We cannot speculate on the reasons for the decision of the RCP as to why a further acting appointment was not required.”
In November Jacobs struck the Kusile R2.2bn fraud, money laundering and corruption matter off the roll due to unreasonable delay by the prosecution after having earlier established a probe to investigate delays in the high-profile case.
Earlier last year, Jacobs instituted a section 324A inquiry after the prosecution had requested another postponement in the matter.
Charged alongside Koko were his wife Mosima and stepdaughters Koketso Aren and Thato Choma. The other accused are Hlupheka Sithole, Eskom's former project director at Kusile and the most senior official on site, lawyer Johannes Coetzee, Watson Seswai, Lese’tsa Johannes Mutchinya and former South African Local Government Association (Salga) CEO Thabo Mokwena. Mutchinya, a businessman, was added to the case later.
The charges relate to alleged irregular contracts granted for the building of Kusile power station, near eMalahleni, amounting to about R2.2bn.
The NPA's Investigating Directorate (ID) spokesperson Henry Mamothame said they cannot divulge more on their complaints to the magistrates commission against Jacobs.
“We cannot share the details of the complaint as the matter is now with the magistrates commission. We can, however, confirm that the complaint relates to an alleged conflict of interest,” Mamothame said.
He said they were planning on re-enrolling the matter “as soon as possible” but refused to respond to questions relating to the previous outstanding investigation that led to Jacobs striking the matter off the roll.
The magistrates commission told TimesLIVE Premium that now that Jacobs was no longer a magistrate, they could not investigate the complaint laid by the NPA. “We therefore do not have jurisdiction over him [Jacobs] at this point, and thus we cannot investigate the matter,” said Maritshane Finger, secretary of the commission.
We do not have jurisdiction over him [Jacobs] at this point, and thus we cannot investigate the matter.
— Maritshane Finger, magistrates commission secretary
When striking the matter off the roll, Jacobs rejected the ID’s request for a further postponement, saying the matter was first investigated in 2017.
“I can't isolate the period the person had appeared in court and ignore the fact that the investigation started in 2017 — that has a bearing on the matter,” he said at the time.
Jacobs said this “was not a run-of-the-mill case” and involved incidents that occurred between 2014 and 2016.
“If this is a complex matter, before you come to court you have to make sure that investigations are complete.”
He said the fact that the charge sheet was 136 pages long showed that this was not a normal case similar to those that get regularly heard in the regional courts with one or two pages of charge sheets, he said.
“The submission by the state — that when the arrests were effected in October 2022, they believed they had a prima facie case — doesn't fly at all,” said Jacobs in November, adding that if the matter has to be reinstated, a written letter from the NDPP, advocate Shamila Batohi must be obtained first.
This was one of NPA's so-called “seminal” state capture cases.
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