Mosebenzi Zwane says he's an innocent man and intends to plead not guilty. He and two other accused appeared at the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court on charges of corruption and fraud. The matter is in relation to the Vrede dairy farm scandal during the time he was  MEC for Agriculture in the Free State. Zwane appeared with former Sahara Computers employee, Ugeshni Govender, and director of Gupta-owned company Islandsite Investments, Ronica Ragavan.

PLEADING NOT GUILTY

Zwane's defence Lebohang Mokhele said his client intended pleading not guilty. National prosecuting authority Investigating Directorate spokeswoman Sindisiwe Seboka confirmed that three arrests took place on Wednesday morning, including that of Zwane in Bloemfontein. Seboka said, "The arrests arise from the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture through a company called Estina”.
She explained that the said company got into an agreement with the Free State Agriculture Department to establish a dairy farm project that would benefit disadvantaged farmers. “In the charge sheet we allege that in terms of the agreement between the department and Estina, they needed to ensure the beneficiaries owned 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,” Seboka said.

PASSPORTS CONFISCATED

The controversial Vrede dairy farm project, in which public funds meant for black emerging farmers were allegedly looted, was undertaken by the Free State Department of Agriculture about a decade ago.Magistrate Estelle de Lange granted Zwane and unemployed Govender bail of R10 000 and ordered them to be present when the matter returns to court on 2 November. Zwane and his co-accused were ordered to handover their passports and cannot apply for new ones or any other travel documents without notifying the investigative officer.