Prosecution in Booi, Stanfield housing tender fraud case criticised for dragging feet on probe into matter

CAPE TOWN - The prosecution in the billion-rand housing tender fraud case in Cape Town has been criticised for dragging its feet investigating the matter.
 
Alleged 28s gang boss Ralph Stanfield, his wife Nicole Johnson, former Cape Town human settlements MMC, Malusi Booi, and 26 others are linked to this high-profile case.
 
Stanfield's younger brother, Kyle, and his mother-in-law, Barbara Johnson, have also been added to the indictment on a charge of defeating the ends of justice.
 
All 29 accused are facing more than 50 charges including murder, fraud, and money laundering among other charges.
 
Lawyers representing the accused have criticised the State for not having all its ducks in a row, almost two years since Booi's office was raided on corruption suspicions.
 
It’s also almost a year and a half since Stanfield and Johnson were arrested.
 
The prosecution said it still needed to analyse more than 100 bank statements and other documents still to be downloaded from several devices.
 
The defence, meanwhile, has asked for the court to probe the unreasonable delays in this matter.
 
The case has been postponed to 20 March for the State to finalise its investigations.