Stephan Khoza, one of the men accused of defrauding Kalahari Resources, was found to be unfit to stand trial by the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, the company said on Saturday.
The company’s legal representative Heinrich Meiring said in a statement that a prosecutor explained on Friday that Khoza’s psychological assessment revealed that he suffered from schizophrenia and paranoid delusions among other mental health problems.
Meiring said according to Khoza’s psychiatrists, he did not have the mental capacity or ability to distinguish between right and wrong as a result of his mental illness.
Khoza was arrested in October together with Sandile Majali, Haralambos Sferopoulous, and Elvis Bongani Ndala for allegedly changing the directorship of mining company Kalahari Resources in August this year.
Sferopoulos and Ndala will also be sent for psychological assessment and the results will be heard alongside Khoza’s results in the High Court in Johannesburg on January 11.
All three men, along with Majali, who did not appear in court on Friday, are expected to go on trial in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court to face charges of fraud.
The accused allegedly removed Kalahari Resources’ two directors, Brian Amos Mashile and his sister Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, from the Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office (Cipro) database.
Urgent interdict
The two siblings had to bring an urgent interdict before the High Court in Johannesburg to get themselves reinstated as directors of the company.
Kalahari Resources owns a 40% stake in Kalagadi Manganese, the mining company developing an R11-billion Northern Cape manganese mine and sinter plant.
Majali came into the public eye after the ‘Oilgate saga’, that saw him “donate” R11-million of national oil company PetroSA’s funds to the ANC ahead of the 2004 elections. — Sapa