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"contents": "<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Former Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane and his co-accused appeared briefly in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning, in connection with the </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-09-03-no-questions-asked-as-millions-flowed-to-estina-dairy-project/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">R280-million Estina Dairy project</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the Free State. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State added former Free State department of agriculture head, Peter Thabethe; former department of agriculture chief financial officer, </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Seipati Sylvia Dhlamini; former acting head of the department</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Takisi Masiteng; and the </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">former </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-01-npa-predicts-further-arrests-as-gupta-linked-estina-dairy-project-associates-get-bail-for-alleged-r37-7-million-fraud/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sole director of Estina dairy farm, Kamal Vasram</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the case — as well as eight companies. </span>\r\n\r\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Read in </span></i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Daily Maverick:</span> <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2018-02-15-explainer-the-eight-gupta-linked-suspects-who-appeared-in-court/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explainer: The eight Gupta-linked suspects who appeared in court</span></i></a>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The three former Free State government officials and Vasram appeared in court on Wednesday alongside their co-accused in the case; Zwane, f</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ormer Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender, and director of Gupta-owned company Islandsite Investments, </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2021-09-27-blame-me-not-mr-atul-ronica-ragavans-astonishing-legal-intervention-to-shield-her-gupta-boss/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ronica Ragavan</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Zwane — who is </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">currently an ANC MP and the chairperson of Parliament’s portfolio committee on transport — </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-09-28-arrested-ex-minister-mosebenzi-zwane-released-on-r10000-bail-over-estina-dairy-project-scandal/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">arrested on 28 September</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, after handing himself over to the police, before appearing in court along with Govender and Ragavan. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The State did not oppose bail, and Zwane and Govender were both released on R10,000 bail each. Ragavan was warned to appear in court when the matter resumed on 2 November, as she was previously arrested in this matter in 2018. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On Wednesday, the matter was transferred to the Bloemfontein high court and is scheduled for 25 January 2023.</span>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<strong>Visit <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za?utm_source=direct&utm_medium=in_article_link&utm_campaign=homepage\"><em>Daily Maverick's</em> home page</a> for more news, analysis and investigations</strong>\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 16 accused in the case face charges of contravention of the Public Finance Management Act, fraud, corruption and money laundering, said the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) Investigating Directorate (ID), spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka.</span>\r\n\r\n \r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\r\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">[WATCH] The former Free State MEC for agriculture, Mosebenzi Zwane, speaking to media at the Bloem Magistrate's court. Matter has NOW been transferred to Bloem High court for the 25 of Jan 2023. More accused added to the charge sheet. <a href=\"https://twitter.com/eNCA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@eNCA</a> <a href=\"https://t.co/M4T8h09NoT\">pic.twitter.com/M4T8h09NoT</a></p>\r\n— Pule Letshwiti-Jones (@pule_jones) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/pule_jones/status/1587720498623954946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 2, 2022</a></blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"></script>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“</span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They appeared on charges emanating from alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture through a company called Estina,” said Seboka.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The charges stem from the <a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2019-12-02-the-estina-vrede-dairy-scandal-a-gupta-project-from-beginning-to-end/\">Vrede Dairy project scandal</a>, in which the Free State government unlawfully paid the Gupta family’s company Estina, more than R280-million for nothing in return. The public funds which were meant to benefit small-scale black farmers in the Free State, sidelined the intended beneficiaries and allegedly lined the Guptas’ pockets. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The project was conceptualised by Zwane — who was Free State agricultural MEC at the time — along with Thabethe. </span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the </span><a href=\"https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-06-23-law-enforcement-should-investigate-magashule-zwane-and-thabethe-over-estina-dairy/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State Capture commission’s final report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo</span></a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> singled out Zwane, Thabethe and </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule who was the Free State Premier at the time, as the primary architects behind the </span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">looting of the Free State department of agriculture through Estina.</span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In his report, Zondo criticised Thabethe for failing to do his job, and condemned Zwane and Magashule for not performing their oversight duties as MEC and then-premier and for “pursuing the agenda of the Guptas” when they aided the looting of millions of rand from the Vrede Dairy Project.</span> <b>DM</b>\r\n<div style=\"width: 100%; height: 400px;\" data-tf-widget=\"VioiFF91\" data-tf-inline-on-mobile=\"\" data-tf-iframe-props=\"title=Water cuts\" data-tf-medium=\"snippet\" data-tf-disable-auto-focus=\"\"></div>\r\n<script src=\"//embed.typeform.com/next/embed.js\"></script>",
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