The fraud case against former National Youth Development Agency head Andile Lungisa and three others saw yet another delay on Thursday at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court and the state laid the blame for it squarely on the accused’s lack of action.
Lungisa, his wife, Ursula Sali, and business associates Thabo Shogole and Xolisile Guqaza allegedly conned the Department of Arts and Culture to the tune of R2.5-million for a performance by American R&B singer R Kelly that never materialised.
Lungisa allegedly approached the department under the guise that he represented Kelly’s local promoter. The deal was for Kelly, who was in South Africa on a concert tour, to perform at the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day concert at the FNB Stadium in August 2013 but the singer, unaware of the alleged deal, left South Africa before the concert.
The case has been postponed at least three times to allow Lungisa and his co-accused to make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“Enough is not being done on the part of the accused to expedite the inception of the trial,” prosecutor Ronel Dookun told the court.
“The state feels that it is being, at this point in time, severely prejudiced by the delays that are ongoing.”
The accused's lawyer, Mthetheleli Lindwa said that representations had been made to the office of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) but the NPA had not acknowledged receipt yet.
He said that he understood the state’s irritation but that the delays were unintentional and as much as possible was being done to get the trial started.
The case was postponed to May 18 with an agreement between both sides that the issue of representations will be finalised then.
Andile Lungisa fraud case postponed...again
The fraud case against former National Youth Development Agency head Andile Lungisa and three others saw yet another delay on Thursday at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court and the state laid the blame for it squarely on the accused’s lack of action.
Lungisa, his wife, Ursula Sali, and business associates Thabo Shogole and Xolisile Guqaza allegedly conned the Department of Arts and Culture to the tune of R2.5-million for a performance by American R&B singer R Kelly that never materialised.
Lungisa allegedly approached the department under the guise that he represented Kelly’s local promoter. The deal was for Kelly, who was in South Africa on a concert tour, to perform at the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day concert at the FNB Stadium in August 2013 but the singer, unaware of the alleged deal, left South Africa before the concert.
The case has been postponed at least three times to allow Lungisa and his co-accused to make representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“Enough is not being done on the part of the accused to expedite the inception of the trial,” prosecutor Ronel Dookun told the court.
“The state feels that it is being, at this point in time, severely prejudiced by the delays that are ongoing.”
The accused's lawyer, Mthetheleli Lindwa said that representations had been made to the office of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) but the NPA had not acknowledged receipt yet.
He said that he understood the state’s irritation but that the delays were unintentional and as much as possible was being done to get the trial started.
The case was postponed to May 18 with an agreement between both sides that the issue of representations will be finalised then.
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