Former state security minister Bongani Bongo's retrial set to start from scratch on Tuesday
Bongo, who is no longer an MP, was acquitted by the Western Cape High Court in 2021 over a lack of evidence by former Judge President John Hlophe.
FILE: Bongani Bongo at the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on 5 September 2022. Picture: Lindsay Dentlinger/EWN
CAPE TOWN - A retrial for former state security minister, Bongani Bongo, is set to start from scratch on Tuesday in connection with a bribery matter related to Parliament’s 2017 inquiry into state capture at Eskom.
Bongo, who is no longer an MP, was acquitted by the Western Cape High Court in 2021 over a lack of evidence by former judge president, John Hlophe.
Bongo never testified in the first trial after his legal team applied for a discharge.
READ: Bongani Bongo: 'I'm at peace. I want to lead a clean life'
Hlophe subsequently also dismissed the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA)'s application for leave to appeal the dismissal in 2022.
Bongo is alleged to have offered a blank cheque to the evidence leader in Parliament's Eskom inquiry in 2017 if he derailed the start of the probe.
In his 2021 judgment, Hlophe however tore into Ntuthuzelo Vanara's version of events.
Vanara is now the chief legal advisor at the Special Investigating Unit (SIU).
In a successful appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), the NPA argued that mistakes of law were made when Hlophe dismissed their case and said if Bongo had testified, he would have been convicted.
This is what Bongo told EWN last year following the SCA's ruling.
"I'm looking forward to the process. Let's take it. Let's see what comes out of it. I'm okay. I don't want a cloud on my name in the future."
The re-enrollment of the case is expected to follow the same path it did four years ago, with Bongo expected to apply for bail on Tuesday before the case is again transferred to the High Court to be heard afresh.