On 24 July 2023, for reasons that remain unknown to Daily Maverick, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed an order that discharged Judge Cassim Sardiwalla from his duties at the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria. As the trial judge in the Fred Daniel matter, Sardiwalla was presiding ove.
The restitution of land in the area about two decades ago was so corrupt that the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development forked out up to 2 300% more for farms it bought from private owners in deals facilitated by middleman Pieter Visagie.
Allegations cover charges that stretch from 2002 to the present day, mainly to do with the ‘land claims scam’ and the case of conservationist Fred Daniel.
Just days after Daily Maverick implicated Nonhlanhla Patience Mnisi, the wife of Deputy President David Mabuza, in a land claims scam in Mpumalanga, the Hawks told whistle-blower Fred Daniel that the matter would be investigated. By our reckoning, the circumstantial evidence pointed to one plac.
Deputy President David Mabuza, his wife, the dodgy farmer who ‘hijacked’ a community trust, the conman, Pam Golding Properties and the R45-million illegal sale.