Former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane appears in court in relation to R280 million Estina matter
28 September 2022
Former Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court this morning, along with former Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender. Ronica Ragavan who is a former director of Islandsite was warned to appear as she was previously arrested in this matter in 2018. They were arrested on charges pertaining to the R280 million Estina Dairy farm project. The trio appeared on charges of fraud, theft, corruption, money laundering.
The arrests arise from the alleged looting of the Free state Department of Agriculture through a company called Estina. On 05 July 2012, Estina (Pty) (Ltd) entered into an agreement with the Free State Department of Agriculture to establish and implement a dairy farm project in Vrede, to benefit previously disadvantaged farmers and to uplift the people of the Vrede area. In terms of the agreement, Estina was to provide a capital injection of R228 million. Paras Dairy (a company incorporated in India) was presented as Estina’s partner in the Vrede Dairy Project.
In the charge sheet the Investigating Directorate alleges that terms of the agreement between the Department of Agriculture and Estina the beneficiaries were to own 51% of the AGRIBEE (special purpose vehicle) entity and the remaining shares were to belong to Estina. The said agreement also contained a rent-free lease clause in favour of Estina for a period of 99 years.
The agreement further stipulated that the department was to contribute R342 million including VAT over a period of three years. Estina received R280 million from July 2012 to April 2014. Investigations also revealed that no proper tender procedures were followed with regards the decision to fund the proposed Vrede Dairy Project. Estina did not adhere to its obligations in terms of the agreement as only the department paid its contribution into bank accounts held by Estina.
The investigations have revealed that the entire Vrede Dairy Project was designed to extract funds from the State. The other accused previously arrested in 2018 will be summoned to appear on the next court date.
“The enrolment of this case demonstrates the commitment of the ID to deal with perpetrators of state capture”, says Adv Andrea Johnson, head of the Investigating Directorate.
“This case should serve to remind the people of the Free State that this matter was not forgotten. It does however take long to investigate and put together appropriate charges for prosecuting such complex cases. The Vrede Dairy Project destroyed the lives of the people and communities it was supposed to empower and uplift. The enrollment of the matter is a step closer to delivering justice to the people who were alleged to have been prejudiced by the criminal conduct of the accused.”
The State did not oppose their release on bail as the interests of justice did not require their further detention while they await trial.
Issued by Sindisiwe Seboka, Investigating Directorate National Spokesperson, NPA, 28 September 2022
