The magistrate dismissed the Section 342(a) application, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction.
South African Football Association (Safa) president Danny Jordaan and his co-accused have failed to have their case struck off the roll.
Jordaan, alongside Safa chief financial officer (CFO) Gronie Hluyo and businessman Trevor Neethling, appeared before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on Tuesday.
Jordaan and Hluyo filed an application to have the case struck off the roll, citing unreasonable delays under Section 342(a) of the Criminal Procedure Act.
Danny Jordaan wants case struck from roll
During Tuesday’s proceedings, Advocate Norman Arendse, representing Jordaan and Hluyo, said the defence was seeking a costs order for the “unreasonable delays”.
“Alternatively, we also ask that the matter be removed from the roll because a complainant has already been lodged with the DPCI [Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation] Judge in relation to the conduct of the investigating officer [Captain Magano] in this case arising from the search-and-seizure which took place on the 8th of March this year and also a complainant against my learned friend, the prosecutor.
“These matters will take time and we submit that any reasonable person would expect that it will result inevitably with a delay,” he told the court.
The advocate indicated that there were also two applications before the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
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The first application was to set aside the warrants of arrest issued on 4 April this year against Jordaan and Hluyo.
This was based on the allegation that the investigating officer failed to disclose certain information when securing the warrants before a magistrate.
Arendse said it was common cause that the police filed their court papers in response to the arrest warrants case more than three months late.
He also said the matter was likely to be heard next year, specifically in the third or fourth term of the judiciary, given the congested court roll of the high court.
“This prosecution cannot proceed until that matter is decided.”
Watch the case below:
The advocate said the second application related to the interdict the accused sought to stop their arrests.
The matter had been set down for 14 November, but Jordaan and Hluyo were apprehended a day prior to the hearing.
“There was an aborted attempt to bring it on the 11th so the investigating officer was aware that this application was being brought instead he preempted that by then effecting the arrest and accused one and three on the 13th, which to a large extent cut the accused one and three off below the knees because they couldn’t proceed with their urgent application.”
State responds
State prosecutor Moagi Malebati criticised the defence for going into the merits of the case.
“The applicants’ act of delving into the merits at this stage is a clear tactic aimed at confusing the court as well as a tactic to circumvent the trial procedure.
“The applicants are challenged to allow the proper trial of the matter wherein they will have ample opportunity to test and disprove the state’s evidence. It is a futile exercise to attack the state’s evidence at this stage,” he said.
Malebati revealed that Jordaan and Hluyo had made warning statements during investigations, where they advanced their defence to the allegations against them.
“However, their defenses and reasons were found to be inadequate hence their subsequent arrest,” the prosecutor told the court.
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“The application by applicants one and three is also premised on the same reasons that were advanced in their warning statements and should on that basis be equally dismissed.”
Magistrate Sheron Soko-Rantao dismissed the Section 342(a) application, ruling that the court lacked jurisdiction.
“Applying this section to these proceedings means that the two high court matters which accused one and three are referring to are not in this forum. Whatever that delays this court must pertain to this forum,” she ruled.
Earlier, the state’s application to have Arendse recused from the case over alleged conflict of interest was dismissed by the magistrate.
Danny Jordaan charges
Jordaan, Hluyo and Neethling have been charged with fraud and theft for allegedly misusing R1.3 million of the association’s funds for personal gain.
The trio were arrested on 13 November and are currently each out on R20 000 bail.
Despite the serious allegations, Jordaan will not be stepping aside, according to Safa.
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