Mogoeng approached over alleged court corruption

Tired of constant postponements and alleged missing court files at the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), a group of Soweto subcontractors went to the office of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng last week to complain about the alleged corruption at the court. According to their chairperson, Gift Monareng, a staff member at Mogoeng’s office referred them to the office of Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo. ‘We will meet with our advocate to hear a way forward,’ Monareng said. Their advocate, BT Ngqwangele, reportedly told City Press in November that a meeting would need to be scheduled to discuss the matter due to the huge volume of papers in his possession. His clients have been battling to get millions of rands allegedly owed by Nyoni Projects, the main contractor which won a tender to fix water leakages in Soweto in the 2000s. This was part of the City of Johannesburg’s now-defunct Gcina’manzi operation. Monareng said Nyoni Projects filed for liquidation in February 2018 but he and others were opposing the company’s application for liquidation and the matter was still pending. The group said the matter was either being postponed due to ‘missing’ court files, incomplete papers, or it would not be on the court roll. They proposed the case be moved to the Johannesburg High Court and have it heard by the Special Motions Court, while the administration issues and court processes in Pretoria be reviewed and ‘be put on acceptable trustworthy standards and norms’.