The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality, which lost millions of rands through the controversial IPTS debacle, has joined the fray opposing the testimony of suspended municipal manager Johan Mettler, who was to shed light how processes were allegedly flouted.
Standing trial are Mandisa Mkasa, former director of Laphum’ilanga, Nadia Gerwel, former assistant director in the metro’s finance department, businesswoman Andrea Wessels and her events company Zeranza, the ex-CEO of Access Management, Stephan Pretorius, and former EP Rugby boss Cheeky Watson.
They face 44 charges involving fraud and money laundering. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Advocate Tjaart van Zyl for the state was scheduled to call Mettler as an expert witness in terms of how supply chain management policy was allegedly flouted.
After the matter was placed on the roll on Friday, Van Zyl dropped a bombshell in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court as he read into record a letter from the municipality objecting to Mettler’s evidence.
Van Zyl said the letter was forwarded to attorney Danie Gouw’s office.
“He is a competent and compellable witness who can testify to admissible facts which falls within his knowledge gained while he was the municipal manager,” he said.
Earlier, advocate Terry Price SC for the first three accused raised a similar objection, asking whether Mettler was competent as a witness.
He requested a postponement– to the dissatisfaction of other legal representatives who complained of time-wasting.
Magistrate Lionel Lindoor asked Price how the court could determine whether or not Mettler was competent if he was not given the opportunity to have his version tested.
The matter was postponed to August 5 for the court to hear the grounds of the objection and whether or not Mettler would be a competent witness.
The full trial will then resume from September 16.
The National Treasury approved a budget of R208m for the improvement of the IPTS system in 2007.
It is alleged that Wessels conspired with Gerwel to defraud the metro in a manner designed to give them unlawful access to IPTS funds.
The state alleges Gerwel and Wessels used an events management company as a vehicle to launder the money.
But when that company was no longer viable, they allegedly turned to Access Management, a company operating at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, and then to EP Rugby.