This follows the appointment of a new legal representative for Sejake.

The 46-year old Sejake's previous attorney withdrew from the case due to Sejake's lack of cooperation.

His R5000 bail was extended until his next court appearance.

 Sejake was arrested by the Hawks in September 2020, on charges related to the contravention of Section 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA), after allegedly flouting tender processes to the value of R7.8 million, between 2018 and 2019.

This was when he was acting municipal manager at Ratlou Local Municipality.

It is alleged that he failed as the then accounting officer, to take reasonable steps to ensure that procurement processes were followed and observed. Service providers were allegedly appointed without a competitive bidding process.

Investigations have been completed and the state is ready to proceed with pre-trial conferencing for the trial to commence.

Statement supplied.