A lawyer for suspended KwaZulu-Natal regional court president Eric Sibusiso Nzimande has accused the State of building a criminal prosecution around a complaint its author had withdrawn, then expanding the indictment from five to 1,351 counts without producing new witnesses or evidence.
Attorney Ravindra Maniklall told the Durban High Court that the Magistrates’ Commission opened a criminal docket in September 2016, eight months after former acting regional magistrate Thinake Gumede had withdrawn her ethics complaint against Nzimande.
“Gumede’s purported complaints and affidavit were being used without her permission and consent. She testified in her viva voce evidence in the hearing that such conduct, of the complainant using her withdrawn statements and affidavits without her consent, was fraudulent,” Maniklall said in court papers.
In papers filed on September 17, Maniklall objected to the criminal charges under Section 85(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act, arguing that the indictment failed to establish the necessary links between the evidence and the elements of the alleged offences.
He said Gumede, whose full name is Thinake Lindelwa Zungu, instructed her attorney to withdraw her ethics complaint to the Magistrates’ Commission in 2015. Despite the withdrawal, the commission allegedly approached the police in September 2016.
According to Maniklall, Gumede testified that the use of her withdrawn statements and affidavits without her consent was fraudulent and was considering legal action against the commission.
Maniklall also challenged an expanded indictment served on January 22, 2026, which alleges that Nzimande accepted R2,267,400 from people known and unknown to the State without authorisation from the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.
The original five corruption counts were expanded to include counts 6 to 678 for further alleged corruption and counts 679 to 1,351 for money laundering.
Maniklall argued that the prosecution had failed to establish a causal link between the witnesses’ statements and the elements of the charges. He said State witnesses had denied under oath the very gratification allegations underpinning the original five counts.
“The commission’s own representative, J Meijer, only used the accused’s bank statements to draft the charge sheet and did not access the witnesses’ statements, which he conceded was exculpatory of the accused,” Maniklall wrote.
The objection comes after a major setback for the disciplinary case against Nzimande. Retired Limpopo High Court Judge Khami Makhafola, who is presiding over the inquiry, acquitted him of 104 corruption charges, the bulk of the 162 counts he has faced since being suspended on full pay in October 2018.
Maniklall argued that the Magistrates’ Commission had “failed to establish his guilt on a prima facie basis” and that the evidence exculpated Nzimande.
He made an exception for count three, writing that there had been no prior statement from the alleged witness and no viva voce evidence from that witness tendered in support of the charge.
Among the allegations dismissed in the disciplinary inquiry were claims that Nzimande received R238,260 from five attorneys he recommended for acting magistrate positions between 2012 and 2015, and that he protected magistrates who imposed lenient sentences on rhino poachers.
Anti-poaching organisation Saving the Wild, which was allowed to intervene in the inquiry, had identified magistrates Muntukayise Khumalo, Deuteronomy Ngcobo and Kwazi Shandu as members of an alleged syndicate linked to suspected rhino-poaching kingpin Dumisani Gwala, who was arrested in December 2014.
The inquiry heard evidence on the remaining 58 charges from October 19 to 23. Cross-examination had not been completed by Friday, and the matter was adjourned to accommodate Maniklall’s availability.
The State has until October 30 to respond to the objection in the criminal case. The disciplinary inquiry is continuing on the remaining charges, including 50 allegations relating to casino visits during working hours and one of sexual harassment.
Nzimande’s criminal trial is scheduled to run from October 4 to December 5, 2027.
