Correspondence
The fraud case against parolee, former ANC chairperson and former Northern Cape MEC for Public Works John Block and two of his accused is postponed to 5th April 2024. The postponement is for the defense team to finalise the payments for the case’s legal documents.
A relaxed Block who chatted with some of his supporters before the hearing appeared alongside his two co-accused, former Northern Cape Public Works HOD Patience Mokgadi and Babereki Consulting Engineers Director Tshegolekae Motaung. His wife Nolunthando Block was among the people who came to support the accused.
Their case relates to a tender for constructing the multi-million rand mental hospital in Kimberley in 2003, which took 14 years and cost South African taxpayers over a billion rands.
The ANC strongman is accused of using his power to influence contracts in the hospital deals. Block, Mokgadi, and Motaung were arrested last May following a lengthy investigation by the Hawks.
Legal documents became a bone of contention between the state and the defence after the state asked for postponement after it emerged that the defence had not paid and obtained the documents from the state. The defence argued that the case must be struck off the roll due to “unreasonable delays” by the state. The attorney representing accused number 1, 2 and the company, Kabelo Matee argued that it is not in the best interest of justice for the case to be postponed many times. He accused the state of not being ready to proceed with the matter.
Block was released on parole in November last year after serving a 15 years for corruption and money laundering. In that case, Block and his co-accused, Trifecta Investments CEO, Christo Scholtz were found guilty of colluding to lease office space to the Northern Cape Social Development Department at inflated prices.
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