Pretoria court delays fraud trial of ex-police chief

The trial of former Acting National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and his co-accused will not resume as scheduled, after the High Court of South Africa, Gauteng Division in Pretoria, postponed proceedings to Thursday.

The delay stems from a procedural adjustment on the prosecution side. According to a police statement, the State withdrew charges against one of the entities named in the case after the new prosecution team established that the company in question had ceased to exist. The withdrawal removes the entity from the roll but not the individuals connected to it: the company’s director remains an accused in his personal capacity.

At the centre of the matter are two contracts valued at approximately R54 million, which form the basis of charges of fraud, corruption, theft and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) faced by the accused. Those standing trial alongside Lieutenant-General Phahlane are Lieutenant-Colonel Godfrey Mahwayi, Major-General Maanda Obert Nemutandzhela, Major-General Mankosana Agnes Makhele, and businessmen Inbanathan Kistiah and Avendra Naidoo.

The first of the two contracts concerns the alleged irregular procurement of software known as RIPJAR, intended for deployment during the October 2015 #FeesMustFall protests by university students. The second relates to communication-encryption software known as Daedalus.

It is the Daedalus procurement that carries particular weight. The software was allegedly used to encrypt calls and wipe cellphone records and messages at a time when Phahlane was himself under investigation by the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID). That investigation concerned the “Blue Lights” police tender and other alleged irregular procurement matters dating from his tenure as Acting National Police Commissioner.

Meanwhile, the postponement to Thursday leaves the operational questions in the case unresolved for now, with the court expected to take up the matter once the State has completed its adjustment of the charge sheet. Further detail on the trial’s progress is available via the reference report at https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/high-court-postpones-trial-former-acting-national-police-commissioner.

For anyone tracking whether the prosecution machinery is functioning as intended, the withdrawal of charges against a defunct company is a practical, housekeeping step rather than a substantive shift. The accused remain before the court in their personal capacities, the two contracts remain the core of the case, and the trial clock resumes on Thursday. The open question now is whether the revised charge sheet will be ready when the matter returns.