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Save them and Sipho Nzuza. Photo: Instagram
Bagcinele Cynthia Nzuza, wife of criminally charged eThekwini city manager, Sipho Nzuza, appeared in Durban commercial crimes court on Tuesday for her alleged role in the R430 million Durban Solid Waste Bid (DSW) scam for which her husband and former mayor Zandile Gumede and others have previously been charged.
The appearance of Bagcinele Nzuza, or Gcina as she calls herself on Instagram, was low-key and unusually early by court standards, given the media interest it surely aroused.
She was added to the Durban solid waste tender scam case as defendant number 18 (her husband, Sipho Nzuza, is defendant number 17) and charged with common purpose conspiracy to commit fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The state did not object to the bail, with the amount set at R30,000, although the initial amount requested was R50,000, given that Bagcinele had “substantial assets and means to pay.”
The Nzuzas currently live on the luxurious Zimbali coastal estate in Ballito.
Bagcinele was ordered to inform the investigating officer 48 hours in advance if he wanted to leave the province.
The conditions of his release on bail further include that he “must not have contact with any person who is [working with] management of the supply chain in the municipality of eThekwini ”.
The Nzuzas will appear again on December 10 with their co-defendants.
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In a statement released Tuesday, the Hawks said Bagcinele “allegedly facilitated the installation of a buil[t]-in the kitchen of his mother-in-law’s house and one of the service providers involved in the multi-million dollar tender for solid waste allegedly paid R18,000 for the assembly ”.
A check for Daily maverick revealed that Bagcinele is currently listed as a director of 11 active companies, though she describes herself on her LinkedIn page as “currently offering Christian Counseling services” and elsewhere as “self-employed” and “homemaker.” .
Sipho Nzuza, who has maintained his innocence, is on special leave again, having spent much of the year in this way. He was first placed on special leave after being arrested in March of this year, although the City said at the time that this had nothing to do with his arrest, but was related to another matter.
He is currently out on bail of 50,000 rand.
Nzuza returned to work at the end of September after his special license was extended, but according to correspondence that has since been made public, the door to his office has been closed on him. He threatened legal action against the City before resuming office.
EThekwini manager charged in R430m corruption case returns to work
His return to work caused outrage among opposition parties and some citizens, who insisted that once back in office, he could interfere with witnesses who were preparing to testify against him.
The outrage grew when it emerged that Nzuza had been signing bidding documents. He was subsequently rushed to court on November 15 for allegedly violating the conditions of his bail.
At that hearing, the state said Nzuza had violated at least two of the bail conditions that had been agreed upon at his appearance in March.
The lead investigator on the case, Lt. Col. Frank Mphaki, took the stand and told the court that Nzuza had been signing award letters for tenders, attending virtual meetings where some of the witnesses in his case were present, as well as he had requested, in writing, weekly updates to the two senior delegated officials to assume some of their responsibilities precisely so that Nzuza would not violate the conditions of his bail.
The embattled city manager had also chaired virtual meetings where, in some cases, the agenda included progress reports from eThekwini’s integrity and investigations unit, which deals with, among other things, fraud and corruption in the city.
The investigator also said that although Nzuza had delegated the authority of SCM to two senior managers, “the authority seemed to remain with Nzuza in the sense that it required that he be informed weekly of every decision made in relation to the delegation.” The managers are among the witnesses in the case.
Before the magistrate could rule on the matter, the state and the defense reached an agreement that clarified the conditions of Nzuza’s bail, with the modification of two paragraphs.
When the 18 defendants appear in court on December 10, the state is expected to have finalized its gigantic forensic audit report which, according to chief prosecutor Ashika Lucken, includes 5,250 pages of seized documents, 460,000 pages of bank documents, about two million lines. of seized electronic data, mapping of relationships and interviews with 450 people. DM