The prosecution in the case against a municipal worker who faces extortion charges told the court that they would call a handwriting expert to testify in the trial.
The prosecution in the case against a municipal worker who faces extortion charges told the court that they would call a handwriting expert to testify in the trial.
Former manager in the Town Planning and Estates directorate, Zukiswa Pearl Mkuzo appeared briefly in the Grahamstown Regional Court on Tuesday, where trial was scheduled to resume. She was accused of extorting money from a citizen who wanted to purchase land in Makana.
State prosecutor Noluvuyo Tembeni-Nondze asked for a post-ponement to allow time for a handwriting expert to lift the fingerprints from the document. However, magistrate Ronny Lesele intervened, saying the process would surely not take that long.
Mkuzo's lawyer George Malgas concurred with Lesele, saying although he and his client had to travel from out of town, he felt the comparison and lifting of fingerprints was of paramount importance not only to the state, but to the defence as well.
This comes after a previous appearance in which Mkuzo claimed that a signature in a document presented by the legal team of her accuser, Grahamstown resident, Mark Pote, was forged. Mkuzo pleaded not guilty to corruption charges when she appeared in court last month. She has not yet been called to testify in the case.
The first state witness to take the stand, Pote described to the court how he first came into contact with Mkuzo about two months after he had submitted building plans to the municipality.
The case was opened with Grahamstown police on 9 November, 2012. Pote opened the case after he had applied to purchase land on 15 March 2011, but heard nothing about the matter until he made a follow-up visit to the municipality.
Pote told the court that Mkuzo asked him to lend her R20 000 in return for expediting his plans and making sure they were approved. Lesele suggested that a provisional date be set to obtain the expert results, which everyone agreed to.
The case was provisionally postponed to 12 September for the handwriting report.
