Former Tshwane mayor Murunwa Makwarela will find out next week Friday what challenge the State will bring forth in response to his request for the relaxation of his bail conditions.
Makwarela is facing charges of fraud and uttering, related to him allegedly submitting a fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate and the R1.4 million he was paid when he was still employed as the Tshwane council speaker and a councillor.
Following his appearance in the Specialised Commercial Crimes (SCC) Court in Pretoria today, his newly appointed legal counsel, Neville Gawula, said they brought the application on behalf of Makwarela in terms of section 63, which allowed their client to approach the court for the relaxation, amendment or changes to the bail conditions imposed at the time he was arrested.
He said although they brought the application to the court, unfortunately, the State needed to respond and it was not ready to respond to the issues they brought before the court.
The two issues they wanted to be addressed related to Makwarela having to seek permission from the investigating officer regarding his movement outside the province within 48 hours.
Gawula said they placed before the court that this was unattainable for Makwarela, in the sense that he might get some emergency request related to his family, businesses and the ministry he ran, with the officer not necessarily being available should this occur.
“We requested that he be allowed just to inform and even a WhatsApp message should be sufficient for him to do that.”
The second condition they wanted relaxed related to Makwarela not being in contact directly or indirectly with the trustees or curator appointed in his sequestration application.
Gawula said the basis of challenging this condition was due to the fact that they were dealing with this matter on his behalf and there had been a lot of communication with the curator where they required the necessary information.
“So we’ll have to make contact with her to be able to bring or deal with his reapplication application before the court. Therefore this condition that we should not interact with her is an absurdity.”
The legal counsel said Makwarela was doing quite well and they were hopeful of finalising his matter quite soon.
The 50-year-old disgraced former mayor was granted R10 000 bail in April after the National Prosecuting Authority said they did not oppose his release on bail as his address was confirmed, he met all the requirements and he was not a flight risk.
Makwarela will be back in the SCC court on Friday, June 9.