Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Piet van Niekerk has given his reasons for denying self-proclaimed Prophet Shepherd Bushiri’s fellow fraud co-accused, businessman Willah Joseph Mudolo, relaxation of his bail conditions for him to travel to Zambia.
Judge Van Niekerk dismissed Mudolo’s application to visit his gravely ill mother in Zambia. Among his bail conditions was that he could not travel outside of the borders of Gauteng.
Last month, the judge dismissed the application after hearing Mudolo’s legal representatives and in the absence of any representation on the State’s behalf.
Mudolo had wanted his bail conditions to be amended so that he was permitted to depart South Africa on or before April 30 until May 3 for purposes of attending to his mother, who is gravely ill in Zambia.
He also asked the court to order the investigating officer in the criminal proceedings against him to be directed to provide him with his passport at least a day before his departure to attend to his mother, who he said was dying to see him.
Mudolo offered to give the investigating officer the physical address and telephone numbers of his close relatives during his temporary visit in Zambia.
“The applicant’s (Mudolo’s) departure from Gauteng Province shall not exceed five days… provided that during the applicant’s absence in Gauteng Province, he shall be excused from reporting to the SA Police Service and shall report on his return on the following reporting day, being Monday or a Friday, whichever comes first,” he explained.
Mudolo also undertook to return his passport to the investigating officer within 48 hours of his return from travel. In addition, he has provided substantial security and added that he has never contravened any bail conditions and was not a flight risk.
However, Judge Van Niekerk said he declined to exercise his discretion in Mudolo’s favour to amend the bail conditions.
He said his refusal to exercise the discretion afforded to this court in terms of the Criminal Procedure Act was based on several considerations, including that at the time when the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court considered his bail application and imposed stringent conditions on him, as well as a restriction on travel outside the province and the country, and to surrender his passport.
“That decision was arrived at during an investigation conducted by the court, which considered all relevant evidence. In my view, such stringent bail conditions would not have been imposed had the learned magistrate not found on the available evidence that the interest of justice required such stringent bail conditions,” Judge Van Niekerk stated.
The judge added: “The manner in which this application was launched has engineered a situation where an important functionary of the State, namely the Director of Public Prosecutions, was not joined in the proceedings and/or provided a reasonable opportunity to place before this court any relevant information which may influence this court’s decision whether or not the interests of justice requires an amendment of bail conditions.”
Mudolo’s lawyer told the court that he then launched more than one application seeking an amendment to his bail conditions.
The applications include one launched in January 2022, in which he requested to be permitted to travel outside the borders of South Africa and also to visit other provinces.
Mudolo succeeded when regional magistrate, Thandi Theledi, granted the relaxation order of the bail conditions in March 2022.
But in September 2022, Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, Judge Mokhine Mosopa, on appeal, overturned magistrate Theledi’s ruling amending the bail conditions, and the stringent bail conditions originally imposed still applied.
Mudolo and five others, including his wife, Zethu, and his company, Rising Estate, Landiwe Ntlokwana Sindani, Nomalarvasagie Reddy, Sateesh Isseri, and Stephanie Oliver, were scheduled to appear last month in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, and the six accused face multiple charges, including racketeering, money laundering, and fraud, according to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The charges relate to an alleged R102 million fraud, theft, and money laundering scheme through investments in companies linked to Bushiri’s Enlightened Christian Gathering’s church operations.
The NPA has also indicated that it intends to file for his bail to be cancelled after he applied to buy an aircraft in preparation for his campaign for Zambia’s presidential elections scheduled for August.
Loyiso Sidimba
iol.co.za
