A South African court has thrown out an attempt by Zimbabwe’s Attorney General (AG) to extradite a former business partner of First Lady Grace Mugabe to stand trial in Zimbabwe for allegedly defrauding her of $1 million in a botched trucks deal.
Four South African drivers who delivered trucks to Grace from Chinese businessman Ping Sung Hsieh are already before the court in Zimbabwe over the matter. Hsieh is based in South Africa. Grace, through her aide Olga Bungu, allegedly ordered six trucks from Ping.
The drivers, Cassim Jee Bilal, Henry Radebe, Samuel Baloyi and Sydney Sekgobela, were arrested after delivering only three trucks to Grace’s orphanage in Mazowe. To worsen the situation, the three trucks were allegedly second-hand vehicles in breach of the deal.
The trial of the drivers has been postponed several times as the court gave the AG’s office more time to facilitate the extradition of Hsieh from South Africa so he could be jointly charged with the drivers on fraud charges. But South African magistrate Pieter du Plessis rejected the extradition request.
Beatrice Mtetwa, the drivers’ lawyer told the Daily News that the state could no longer delay trial on the basis of the extradition request following magistrate du Plessis’ ruling. “I expect trial to kick off on August 29 because the Attorney General’s office cannot keep on using Hsieh as an excuse, knowing very well that he is not coming,” said Mtetwa.
Harare magistrate Shane Kubonera on August 3 ruled that he would consider releasing the drivers’ passports if the state failed to furnish a trial date on August 29 when the men next appear before him. Daily News
