It is also expected that the court will today announce whether it will grant Mqwathi bail or not.

OFM News earlier this week reported that he appeared in court after he was arrested by the Hawks in the Free State last week after being on the run for more than a week. He failed to turn himself in at the police station in the town two weeks ago.

While on the run, Mqwathi took to social media to post a video bidding strength and good tidings to his supporters who were worried about him during that time, despite the fact that authorities were looking for him. Hawks spokesperson, Lloyd Ramovha, previously told OFM News that Mqwathi was arrested after investigations showed that he has been implicated in a tender deal that he and other top municipal officials in other parts of the Free State were said to have benefitted from.

Mqwathi is one of three officials in the province that were arrested with regards to this specific tender deal. His arrest comes after the Dihlabeng municipal manager, Busa Molatsedi, as well as Tefo Montsitsi, who is the director of a company known as ‘Zero Tolerance’ - the company that allegedly received the tender in question fraudulently - were arrested a fortnight ago and charged with fraud and corruption.

Molatsedi and Montsisi were each released on R10 000 bail. This trio also joins two others from the Dihlabeng and Maluti-A-Phofung Local Municipalities in Bethlehem that were also earlier arrested on similar charges for the company in question. The Bethlehem pair, Mavis Mabula (46) and Solomon Nyembe (47), also made their respective court appearances and were released on R10 000 bail each. They will reappear in court on 13 June.

OFM News