National Prosecuting Authority preparing to reinstate charges against Nulane accused:
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed on Friday that it would reinstate the fraud and money-laundering charges against the eight corruption accused in the Nulane Investments trial after successfully appealing their acquittal.
“We are tirelessly working towards that,” said NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga.
On Thursday, the NPA prevailed in the supreme court of appeal (SCA), which found that Judge Nompumelelo Gusha had grossly mishandled the case and “closed her mind” to the evidence placed before her.
It said what transpired in the high court could only be summed up as a “failure of justice”.
The SCA ruling came almost two years after Gusha granted section 174 discharges to former Free State officials and associates of the fugitive Gupta brothers in a case that underpinned the unsuccessful application for their extradition to South Africa.
That decision meant that none of them had to take the stand to answer the case put forth by the state.
Gusha found that the prosecution had “regrettably failed to pass even the barest of thresholds” in proving that the accused colluded to defraud the Free State government and ensure some R24 million was funnelled to a United Arab Emirates (UAE) Standard Chartered Bank account linked to the Gupta family.
Gupta associate Iqbal Sharma was arrested in 2021, nearly a decade after Free State officials deviated from public finance rules to awarded a contract worth R24.9??million for a feasibility study to his newly-founded Nulane Investments.
It pinpointed Paras, an Indian firm linked to the Guptas, as the preferred entity to a dairy project in Vrede in the Free State. This would later become the Estina dairy farm scam in which more than R280??million allegedly flowed to the Gupta family.
But Gusha, an acting judge, found that the prosecution was unable to prove that provincial officials broke the law when they gave the contract to Nulane.
It meant that the case collapsed at the first hurdle, because without proof that the money was stolen, the state could not sustain the charge of money-laundering in relation to the rapid-fire transfers that followed to companies in the Gupta stable.
The SCA agreed with the state that Gusha made a litany of errors in law and fact, resulting in a failure of justice. She had been obliged to consider the totality of evidence, and had failed to do so.
“The inference is inescapable — and the judgment itself shows — that the judge had closed her mind to the evidence adduced by the state.
“This is unfortunate, particularly in a case such as this, where it was prima facie established that scarce public funds were unlawfully extracted from the department and channelled to the UAE, by fraud and the misuse of power.”
Hence, the appellate court said, the acquittal of the accused was unfair to the prosecution.
The prosecution had relied on the doctrine of common purpose to prove that all accused were part of a conspiracy to defraud the government, as were Atul and Rajesh Gupta.
It had planned to add them to the list of accused if they were surrendered to South Africa.
The SCA said there was evidence that three Free State officials worked together to ensure Nulane was appointed and paid and, further, that fraud and money-laudering was committed with the cooperation of the rest of the accused, among them Ronica Ragavan, the director of the Gupta family’s Islandsite Investment.
That was one of the companies in the family’s business empire through which the state allegedly the money extracted from the Free State was laundered with “bewildering rapidity”.
There was a real likelihood, the SCA said, that the accused would have incriminated each other, had they been put on the stand.
“The high court misapplied s174 of the CPA [Criminal Prosecution Act]: a court should not discharge an accused who might be incriminated by a co-accused. This was unfair to the state,” the court said.
“The trial in the high court can be summed up in a single sentence: This was a failure of justice.”
It added that regrettably this undermined public confidence in the criminal justice system.
The SCA ruling provided some comfort for the NPA a week after the Bloemfontein high court ruled that it did not have jurisdiction to try Ace Magashule’s former assistant, Moroadi Cholota, for her role in the R225 million Free State asbestos scam case.
The court found that her extradition from the United States was unlawful as the NPA had failed to challenge an SCA ruling that only the minister of justice, and not the prosecuting authority, had the power to apply for extradition, in due time.
The NPA is seeking to overturn this ruling as well.
It is early on Monday morning and I wake to the sound of a rumble of thunder and a flash of lightning. This is followed by the unmistakable sound of raindrops on the roof. The promised cold front has arrived.
Ignoring the icy cold I leap out of bed and rush outside barefoot to check that my primitive water collection system is in place.
The old plastic rubbish bin and the vintage zinc bathtub have to be positioned correctly to catch the maximum amount of water running down from my leaking gutters. The reason for this frantic early morning activity is that our suburb is one of the many that have been affected by the ongoing water crisis.
The east of Joburg has been particularly badly hit recently and I have not had water for at least eight days since the one day where there was a weak trickle from the taps. Before that there was no water for three or four days at a time and when there was water it was switched off at night in what Joburg Water terms “throttling”.
This violent-sounding nocturnal activity is to allow our much-abused reservoir to recover and fill to a level where at least some areas can get some water the next day.
The result of this situation is that my vast collection of five-litre plastic bottles that I spent the summer months filling with rainwater has been depleted and flushing the toilet is becoming a problem. An attack by a nasty stomach bug that required multiple toilet flushings didn’t help.
So the unseasonal rainfall was perfectly timed but unfortunately it didn’t last long and a pathetic amount of water was collected. Disconsolately I go back inside and check that there is enough water in the kettle for a cup of coffee, making sure to divert my eyes from the counter piled high with dirty dishes, pots, cutlery, glasses and mugs.
To do the washing-up requires a visit to a friend’s house to collect multiple bottles of water. Back home I must heat up water in the kettle and in pots on the stove to clear the unsavoury mess in the kitchen.
Grudgingly I fill the dogs’ water bowl while delivering a stern lecture on their reckless water consumption. I pour a small glass of water to wash down my blood pressure pills and make sure there is enough left to rinse after brushing my teeth.
It is time for the first news diary meeting of the week and once again I tell my colleagues how lucky they are that this is a remote meeting and none of them have to be confined in a small office space with me. A daily shower in the morning is a distant memory so personal hygiene standards have dropped.
There is a discussion about how the water crisis is a major story and we have to cover it. But we have done this so many times before that the problem is how to present it in a different way that will make people want to read it.
There is no easy solution to this problem so I return to the kitchen in the hope that there is enough water in the kettle for a second cup of coffee. Like a moth to a flame I check on the Water Crisis: Time for Action WhatsApp group.
There are 109 new messages, mostly from people saying that there is still no water in their street. There is a map with a growing red line marking the areas that don’t have water. There are messages filled with angry words in capital letters. There are plans to hold protests and to visit the offices of those responsible for this shocking lack of basic services.
There are many posts about the whereabouts of the elusive water tankers, and many pictures of people filling up containers. The unusual sight of people pushing wheelbarrows filled with plastic bottles down the tree-lined suburban streets has become a familiar one. And there are alarming stories about how air being pushed through the pipes keeps your meter ticking over even though there is no water.
In among all this I come across an official statement: “Today, MMC Jack Sekwaila conducted a site inspection at the Alexandra Park Reservoir with Johannesburg water officials, including Ops GM Mzakhwe Mtshweni. The visit formed part of the city’s efforts to accelerate water recovery in affected areas and assess the condition of critical pipeline infrastructure. During the inspection, severe blockages were discovered — caused by illegal dumping, vandalism, and misuse of underground systems. In a concerning development, some underground chambers are being accessed and used as shelter by unhoused individuals, highlighting a deeper human and infrastructure crisis.”
In desperate need of distraction I page through a cookery book looking for a new one-pot recipe to make for supper. Perhaps a hearty minestrone soup that the family can spoon from the communal pot.
I need to shop for ingredients and the trip to the supermarket takes me down one of the main streets of the suburb. For more than a month it has been reduced to one lane by a series of large craters, the result of ongoing work to repair several sewage pipe leaks. It is not surprising to see nasty grey-green water bubbling up from a new hole in the road.
The good news is that I have a gas stove to cook the meal on because there is another fault at the local substation and the power is out. At this stage it is like water off a duck’s back.
UN credibility crisis: The US veto shields Israel’s destruction of Gaza:
Once again, the United States has used its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to protect Israel from international accountability. Amid growing global concern over civilian suffering in Gaza, allegations of war crimes and the devastation caused by Israeli military operations, resolutions calling for ceasefires, humanitarian access and independent investigations have been struck down not by a lack of international consensus, but by a single vote from Washington.
It’s an old pattern, and a deeply troubling one. Since 1946, the US has exercised its veto more than 80 times, many of those to block resolutions critical of Israel. From the 1981 veto of a resolution condemning Israel’s bombing of Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor, to the 2001 rejection of international observers in the West Bank, and the 2011 veto of a resolution denouncing settlement expansion, the US has repeatedly used its exceptional power to exempt its ally from scrutiny.
This raises urgent questions about the credibility of the Security Council itself. If one country can obstruct the collective will of the world even in matters involving alleged breaches of humanitarian law, what is the purpose of multilateralism? How can the law have meaning if it does not apply equally to all?
The veto power, granted to the five permanent members of the Council (the US, United Kingdom, France, Russia and China), was designed to ensure post-World War II stability. But it has become an instrument of selective justice. It allows powerful nations and their allies to avoid accountability, while weaker states face sanctions, interventions, or condemnation for far less.
The Security Council’s paralysis in the face of human suffering in Gaza isn’t just a failure of leadership, it’s a systemic failure. It reinforces a rules-based order that applies rigorously to some, and not at all to others. And that breeds resentment, weakens global cooperation and damages the very idea of international law.
This is where South Africa’s role matters.
With a history shaped by colonialism, apartheid and a long liberation struggle, South Africa’s voice carries moral weight. The country has long drawn parallels between apartheid-era South Africa and the treatment of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The ANC has consistently endorsed Palestinian self-determination as a policy position, with its 2017 national conference resolving to downgrade South Africa’s embassy in Tel Aviv, a move later implemented.
More recently, South Africa took bold legal action by instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing it of genocide in Gaza. Whatever one’s view on the merits of the case, it signals a powerful shift: a Global South nation using international law to challenge impunity where diplomacy has failed.
But this cannot be the end of South Africa’s engagement. Our government must:
- Continue building global and regional coalitions that push for reform of the Security Council, particularly the limitation of veto use in cases of mass atrocity;
- Encourage African states to take coordinated action in solidarity with Palestine, whether through diplomacy, trade, or civil society partnerships; and
- Mobilise Global South alliances to demand the equal application of international law, especially in forums outside the UNSC where veto power does not apply.
The UN is in a credibility crisis. Its effectiveness depends not only on its resolutions, but on its moral authority. Right now, that authority is being eroded not by those violating the law alone, but by those enabling that violation through silence, paralysis or political convenience.
If we are serious about a fair and just international order, one where law applies equally and no state is above accountability, then reform must follow. That reform will not come from the powerful. It must come from voices like South Africa’s, speaking clearly and persistently not out of charity or sentiment, but out of principle and shared historical understanding.
The veto must no longer be allowed to block justice. And silence must no longer be mistaken for neutrality.
Nkosinathi Mtshali is a Bachelor of Laws student at University of the Free State.
Submit and get free exposure here: Showcase Your Business | Advertise Your Special Offers.
