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PRASA rail theft trial bogged down in argument over virtual testimony

Key state witness is stranded in Dubai

Former PRASA acting CEO Mthuthuzeli Swartz (right) exits the Gqeberha Regional Court with advocate Mzwamadoda Mnyani in March 2025. Archive photo: Steve Kretzmann

One of the state’s key witnesses, in a fraud trial against a former PRASA manager and a Cape Town businessman, is in Dubai and cannot afford a flight to South Africa.
The case concerns the alleged unauthorised sale and upliftment of 42km of rail between Sterkstroom and Khowa in the Eastern Cape in 2012.
The trial has dragged on for seven years, with one accused changing attorneys five times.
The state has applied for the witness to provide testimony virtually, arguing that witnesses from other provinces have repeatedly travelled to Gqeberha at public expense only for the…

Read More: PRASA rail theft trial bogged down in argument over virtual testimony.

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  1. Fun South African Fact: There are 11 official languages, each with equal status, in South Africa

  2. Fun South African Fact: South African Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant on 3 December 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The groundbreaking surgery was carried out on Louis Washkansky and Dr. Barnard was assisted by a large and exceptional team of surgeons, nurses and technicians. One of Dr. Barnard’s assistants was Hamilton Naki, a black laboratory assistant who had worked previously as a gardener and went on to work in the animal laboratory at the University of Cape Town. He had assisted Dr Barnard with research leading to the transplant. In the apartheid days, Naki had no access to higher education due to his race. Despite being unable to access formal training, he learned from and assisted university researchers and went on to do improbable work.