Hendrik Jan Wansink, no age given on the charge sheet, of Walnut Street, Kuils River in Cape Town’s northern suburbs, faces charges of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, relating to the government’s Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) programme.
When his case was called on Tuesday, his lawyer told the court that Wansink had been admitted to the Karl Bremer Hospital with internal bleeding.
The case was called in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
At prosecutor Juan Agulhas’s request, a warrant was authorised for his arrest, but to be stayed until June 21 when Wansink is due back in court.
If Wansink fails again to appear in court in June, the court is likely to order the immediate execution of the warrant.
The charge sheet cites two complainants in the matter – the City of Cape Town, and a man referred to only as BM Buruza.
According to the charge sheet, the BEE programme was launched to redress the inequalities of apartheid, by giving previously disadvantaged groups such as Africans, coloureds, Indians and some Chinese privileges that were previously not available to them.
BEE includes employment preferences, skills development, ownership, management, socio-economic development and preferential procurement opportunities.
According to the charge sheet, Wansink approached Buruza in the year 2002 to start and run a BEE company, trading as Ikomiti General Supplies, in which Buruza was to have a 51 percent shareholding.
With his 51 percent shareholding, Buruza was also entitled to share in the profits.
Ikomati was duly registered with the Western Cape Supplier Database, and the company’s BEE classification was stipulated as 51 percent black.
It is alleged that Wansink failed to inform Buruza of Ikomati commencing business with the City of Cape Town, and that Buruza was in fact not included in the running of the company, as he had expected to be.
Without Buruza’s knowledge, the City Supply Chain proceeded to place orders with Ikomati to the tune of R1, 034, 077, of which a “huge” but unspecified amount was channelled into Wansink’s bank account.
It is alleged that, when Buruza found out about this, he realised that the establishment of Ikomati had in fact created a vehicle through which Wansink would be better positioned to obtain work from the City of Cape Town.
Buruza complained to the City’s Hotline for alleged BEE fronts.
The charge sheet alleges that the establishment of Ikomati was done in a way that was contrary to the spirit and purpose of the programme to redress the inequalities of apartheid.
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