More arrests made in R113m Mpumalanga education tender scandal

More suspects have been arrested over the Mpumalanga Department of Education multimillion-rand tender scandal.

On Sunday, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) in the province rounded up 27 suspects in Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The arrests are in connection with a R113m tender fraud set up for repairs and maintenance at 21 schools in the province.

The group made its first court appearance in the Mbombela Magistrate's Court.

The group accused includes a list of former department officials, including a former acting head of department, chief financial officers and directors.

The accused sat quietly in the dock, with their faces covered with masks, shying away from the prying eye of the camera.

Though defence lawyers opposed the media from filming, the court ruled otherwise.

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State prosecutor Prenisha Jagganath told the court that the other accused were added on Monday.

"Your worship, currently we have 33 accused before court. There are still seven more to be added to the charge sheet which will take place in the course of this week and three more legal entities to be added."

The group faces fraud, theft and money laundering charges, as well as contravention of the Public Finance Management Act and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.