Former minister Bongani Bongo's pre-trial conference set for August

CAPE TOWN - Former State Security Minister Bongani Bongo will find himself back in the Western Cape High Court on corruption charges in August.

It's alleged that Bongo offered a former parliamentary legal advisor a bribe to scupper a 2017 inquiry into State capture at Eskom at the time when he was a member of Parliament.

Bongo made another appearance in the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Tuesday after the matter was re-enrolled in March, following the State’s successful appeal against the high court’s dismissal of the case in 2021.

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It’s been nearly eight years since Bongo is alleged to have attempted to derail Parliament’s Eskom inquiry by offering a monetary bribe to its evidence leader, Ntuthuzelo Vanara.

Vanara is now the legal head at the Special Investigating Unit.

According to the 15-page indictment, the State has served on Bongo, the manner in which he’s alleged to have offered the gratification to Vanara contravenes the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act relating to public office bearers.

The high court previously acquitted Bongo before he could testify after his legal team applied for a discharge, and former judge John Hlophe tore into witness testimony from parliamentary staff for not being credible.

The State successfully appealed Hlophe’s ruling to refuse leave to appeal in the Supreme Court.

In this second attempt to try Bongo four years later, the case has now been transferred to the High Court once again for a pre-trial conference on 15 August 2025.