South African Court dismisses NPA bid to appeal first state capture trial acquittals

The South African Free State High Court in Bloemfontein dismissed the State’s bid. It is to challenge the summary acquittals granted to all the accused in its first state capture trial, which the National Prosecuting Authority decried as a “miscarriage of justice”. According to News24, Acting Judge Nompumelelo Gusha dismissed the NPA’s application to reserve “questions of law” in relation to her decision to grant Section 174 discharges to all but one of the accused in the R24.9 million Nulane fraud and money-laundering trial. The eighth accused, former Free State agriculture department head Limakatso Moorosi, had closed her case and was acquitted.