Former minister and known Gupta ally Mosebenzi Zwane appeared in court on Wednesday, in connection with the Vrede Dairy Project scandal.

While former Free State premier Ace Magashule was vocal in support of the alleged scam, which reportedly saw hundreds of millions of rands earmarked for the empowerment of poor black farmers being siphoned off into the pockets of the Gupta family network, he is not among those who appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court.

In the last part of his State Capture Inquiry report, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo recommended that both Magashule and Zwane face criminal investigation over Vrede.

He also slammed them for failing to perform their oversight functions as then-premier and MEC.

Read more: Top ten findings in the last Zondo report

Zondo also suggested that the Free State government should get legal advice over whether it should sue Magashule and Zwane “to recover such monies as may be recovered from them that were lost by the [Department of Agriculture and Rural Development] in the Vrede Dairy Project as a result of their failure … to perform their legal obligations”.

“It is necessary that there be consequences for people who fail to do their job. Otherwise, this corruption and these acts of state capture are going to continue forever to the detriment of the country and all people,” Zondo said.

The matter is one of the nine “seminal” state capture-related cases National Prosecuting Authority head Shamila Batohi spoke about in May.

At the time, Batohi said the NPA’s Investigating Directorate intended to enroll the cases within six months.

News24