Alleged 28s gang leader Ralph Stanfield is being joined in the dock by former Cape Town human settlements MMC Malusi Booi as the state consolidates separate prosecutions into one trial — the city's R1bn fraud tender case.
Stanfield and his wife, Nicole Johnson, were slapped with a slew of charges by the Cape Town magistrate’s court on Wednesday. The couple, who are awaiting trial behind bars on car theft charges, appeared via a live stream.
Booi was initially arrested with former City of Cape Town director of public housing Siphokazi September, 41, Abdul Kader Davids, 41, Mohammad Amod, 37, Randal Mullins, 67, Breda Mullins, 65, Thuli Imgib, 39, his ex-wife Nomvuyo Mnyaka, 41, Lona Ndoda, 33, and Suraya Manuel, 53.
Davids died in a hail of bullets in Mitchells Plain two days after his release on bail. But the number of suspects in the fraud and corruption case increased to 26 on Wednesday after several people were added to the charge sheet. According to the state, as many as 40 could be charged.
The state combined the R1bn fraud case with several others — including the murder of Hard Livings gang boss Rashied Staggie. The case was postponed to January 31 for further investigation.
After the hearing, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the case would be transferred to the high court. He said the group now faces up to 56 charges.
“We have 26 accused in this case, facing 56 charges,” said Ntabazalila.
“We have decided as the state to join the cases because they are overlapping. You will find in some cases, some of the (accused) were members of a gang and some were members of the enterprise, and they were working together. Which means their activities were overlapping, which necessitated for us to join the case. At this stage, we have 26 accused, and we are likely to add more. We might end up with 40 accused.”
The charges are complex.
“You will find that there is a charge of murder of Staggie, and there are charges of corruption and there are charges of fraud. There are charges for being members of a gang and for being members of an enterprise. It’s a 35-page charge sheet that we have, and one needs to go through it thoroughly,” said Ntabazalila.
During the court appearance, defence lawyers complained that the courtroom was too small to accommodate all the accused.
“We have indicated that this case ... will end up in the high court,” said Ntabazalila. “There is interest in this case from members of the public as well.”
