Former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane has been released on R10,000 bail on charges pertaining to the R280 million Estina Dairy farm project in the Free State.
FOUR years after the Estina Dairy Farm case was provisionally withdraw, three people appeared in court on Wednesday. One of them is former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane.
Zwane and two others, Ugeshni Govender, a former Sahara employee, and Ronica Ragavan, who is a former director of Islandsite, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
They were arrested on charges pertaining to the R280 million Estina Dairy farm project and have been charged with fraud, theft, corruption and money laundering.
The arrests, according to Sindisiwe Seboka, spokesperson for the Investigating Directorate, arise from the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture through a company called Estina.
“On July 5, 2012, Estina (Pty) (Ltd) entered into an agreement with the Free State Department of Agriculture to establish and implement a dairy farm project in Vrede, to benefit previously disadvantaged farmers and to uplift the people of the Vrede area.
“In terms of the agreement, Estina was to provide a capital injection of R228 million.
“Paras Dairy (a company incorporated in India) was presented as Estina’s partner in the Vrede Dairy Project.
“In the charge sheet, the Investigating Directorate alleges that in terms of the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Estina the beneficiaries were to own 51% of the AGRIBEE (special purpose vehicle) entity and the remaining shares were to belong to Estina.
“The said agreement also contained a rent-free lease clause in favour of Estina for a period of 99 years.
“The agreement further stipulated that the department was to contribute R342 million including VAT over a period of three years.
“Estina received R280 million from July 2012 to April 2014. Investigations also revealed that no proper tender procedures were followed with regards the decision to fund the proposed Vrede Dairy Project.
“Estina did not adhere to its obligations in terms of the agreement, as only the department paid its contribution into bank accounts held by Estina,” said Seboka, adding that the investigations revealed that the entire Vrede Dairy Project was designed to extract funds from the State.
“The enrolment of this case demonstrates the commitment of the ID to deal with perpetrators of state capture,” says advocate Andrea Johnson, head of the Investigating Directorate.
Govender and Zwane were released on R10,000 bail.
Part of their bail conditions include handing over their passports and not applying for any travel documents until the finalisation of the matter.
They also have to inform the investigating officer of any plans to leave the province 24 hours prior to departure.
Ragavan was released on a warning.
The matter returns to court on November 2 where the other accused, previously arrested in 2018, will be summoned to appear.
