There appears to be an end in sight for the four-year battle for millions of rands.

The community of Ledig is at loggerheads with the Bakubung Economic Development Unit (Bedu) and its director Disele Phologane over millions of rands donated to the community by Wesizwe mine that has since gone "missing."

At the centre of the row was Bakubung-ba-Ratheo, a 40000-strong community near Rustenburg in North West, and Bedu and its director Phologane.

Phologane has been criminally charged with fraud emanating from R9-million donated to the community by Wesizwe for community projects.

Phologane and Choice Tshetle, a member of Bedu, were accused of illegally transferring R9.5-million from the community's trust account to that of Bedu without the approval of the other trustees.

The allegations were made by Ben Gumbi, a trustee who, after realising that an amount of R4.5-million had been transferred, wrote to Standard Bank requesting the account be frozen.

However, a further R5-million was also transferred, prompting Gumbi to lay a case of fraud against Phologane.

Although the case was opened in 2011, the police recently said they were still investigating and no arrests have been made.

There has, however, been movement as Lesley Mkhabela, representing Gumbi, wrote to Hogan Lovells, who are the attorneys for Standard Bank, notifying them that a date had been set for the matter to be heard in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Monday, February 22 next year.

Gumbi said he was confident they would emerge victorious. "We are of the view that Standard Bank released the money illegally after we first asked them to freeze the account. I am certain that we'll win and get our money from Standard Bank."

Phologane could not be reached for comment.

Erik Larsen, from Standard Bank, declined to comment.

selebim@sowetan.co.za