Author: The Free Stater

Staff Reporter The Bloemfontein Magistrates Court has postponed the bail hearing for former Transnet board member and Gupta family associate Iqbal Sharma to Tuesday. This is to allow for all evidence to be put together ahead of the hearing of arguments. State prosecutor Advocate Peter Serunye told Magistrate Estelle De Lange that the defence had furnished them with their affidavit late and needed more time to confirm the details. According to Serunye, they only received the applicant’s affidavit without the supporting documents on Sunday evening at around 8pm instead of Saturday as agreed. He said they got the final affidavit…

Staff Reporter Former Free State Agriculture and Rural Development head Mbana Peter Thabethe, accused of conniving with the Guptas and others to loot R25-million meant to benefit some of the province’s poor, has been granted bail at the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court. Magistrate Estelle DE Lange released him on R10 000 bail and asked him to return to court on July 5 for the continuation of the matter. His co-accused, Iqbal Sharma, is expected to apply for bail later today. The state, represented by Jacyntha Witbooi, had opposed Thabethe’s bail application saying the matter had drawn a lot of public interest…

South African actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards, who won the hearts of millions of viewers with her TV and movie roles, has passed away. Details surrounding her death are still unknown. The 66-year-old was a household name as she conquered her role as Ester (Nenna) Willemse on South Africa’s first television soapie, Egoli: Place of Gold. She also starred in SABC2’s 7 de Laan, Villa Rosa and Generations and hosted her own talk show, Shaleen. Surtie-Richards also brought her versatility to the stage where she performed in various plays, including the one-woman Shirley Valentine for which she won a Fleur de Cap…

Staff Reporter The Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has confirmed an outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI). A statement released by the department’s spokesperson, Zimasa Leputla, says three cases were reported at three poultry farms in the province. “Laboratory tests conducted gave a positive result, confirming the HPAI was found on those farms,” read part of the statement. The virus was also recorded as an H5 virus which is known to be a high pathogenic strain. The farms where the cases have been recorded are in Villiers, Parys and Wesselsbron. “Whilst this virus is known…

Staff Reporter Former Transnet board member and Gupta family associate Iqbal Sharma and former Free State Agriculture and Rural Development head Mbana Peter Thabethe will apply for bail in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Monday morning. The two made a brief initial court appearance Thursday following their arrest on Wednesday together with two accomplices, Limakatso Moorosi, also a former head of the provincial agriculture department, and Seipati Sylvia Dhlamini, the department’s former chief financial officer. The two women successfully applied for bail later on the same day and were freed after paying R10 000 each. However, Sharma and Thabethe elected…

Staff Reporter The Free State High Court has granted the Investigating Directorate (ID) a restraint order to freeze properties and assets belonging to the controversial Gupta family and their associate Iqbal Sharma who is currently in police custody in Bloemfontein. A statement issued by ID spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka on Friday afternoon said the freezing order, granted in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crimes Act, will be served on Sharma at the Bainsvlei Police Station where he is being held following his arrest on Wednesday. The other order will be served at the Gauteng address of Islandsite Investments 180 (Pty)…

Staff Reporter The man who went on the run for 15 years after allegedly killing a farmer and her employee in 2004 has been sentenced to two life sentences by the Bethlehem Magistrates Court. Thapelo Samuel Mokoena, 41, from Makwane Village in QwaQwa, evaded the police on several occasions but his luck finally ran out on August 28, 2020 when a team led by Detective Warrant Officer Nkosana Radebe pounced on him at his hideout at Hlanganani Mine in Driefontein, near Carletonville, Gauteng province. Mokoena, 40, who also went by the name Mlangeni, was facing charges of murder, attempted murder…

If you are a property owner, you may want to arrange with your insurance company to increase the amount you are covered for on your geyser because prices for those appliances have gone up significantly in recent months. I am really not sure why, but the price of geysers has shot up. A typical 150-litre geyser at the start of the year cost R8 250 but now it’s likely to cost you more than R10 000. Why? Nobody seems to be able to say. The main reason seems to have something to do with COVID-19. But who knows? A typical…

Staff Reporter The convenor of the ANC Free State Interim Provincial Committee (IPC), Mxolisi Dukwana, has sounded a strong warning against party and government officials involved in illicit activities saying they want to clean up the system and make it more efficient. He said this when he addressed a media briefing on the first IPC meeting held on Tuesday and Wednesday. “The time of doing things with impunity is over,” said Dukwana. “It ends today. Moving forward, we will ensure that we do things right,” he added. Dukwana said the IPC had taken this position because it wants to deal…

Staff Reporter The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is pursuing the extradition of the Gupta brothers and their wives to answer to fraud and money laundering charges relating to a R24-million feasibility study contract awarded by the Free State government. The wealthy Indian-born family – which owns a business empire spanning computer equipment, media and mining – left South Africa for the United Arab Emirates in 2016 under increasing scrutiny as a result of their close ties to Jacob Zuma before and during his presidency. Head of the NPA’s Investigating Directorate, Advocate Hermione Cronje, said the authority was requesting Interpol to…