For years, South Africans have watched the corruption case against former Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli move through the courts at a pace that has tested public patience. On Tuesday, the trial was delayed once again, this time because of Mdluli’s ill health, extending a pattern of postponements that has kept answers about the alleged misuse of police funds out of public reach.
The matter resumed on Tuesday but was postponed to Monday, 16 November 2026, for further evidence in a trial-within-a-trial. That separate proceeding follows a challenge to the validity of search warrants issued during the investigative stage of the case. The trial itself has been repeatedly postponed due to numerous setbacks, and the latest delay pushes resolution of a matter that touches directly on the integrity of the police service further into the future.
At the centre of the case are allegations concerning the SAPS Crime Intelligence secret service account during the period 2008 to 2012. Mdluli, together with former South African Police Service Supply Chain Manager Heine Barnard and former Chief Financial Officer Solomon Lazarus, faces charges of corruption, fraud, and theft. All three have pleaded not guilty.
The allegations paint a picture of public resources diverted, it is claimed, to private benefit. Among them are payments for private trips to China and Singapore, private use of witness protection houses, conversion of property for personal use, and the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state in order to pay his bond. For citizens, the significance lies in what these claims suggest about oversight of a fund meant to serve crime-fighting operations, and about whether those entrusted with it can be held to account through the courts.
The State, according to Investigating Directorate Against Corruption spokesperson Henry Mamothame, has completed leading its evidence-in-chief through its first witness, a retired investigator from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and Idac. That witness was cross-examined by the defence before the trial, and proceedings commenced on Monday. The trial began with the State’s first witness, Colonel Kobus Roelofse, taking the stand.
The prosecution’s work falls to the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, an entity whose mandate is to pursue wrongdoing that undermines public institutions. Its spokesperson’s updates are, in effect, the public’s main window into a case that has unfolded slowly across many court dates. Each postponement defers not only a verdict for the accused but also the broader public reckoning over how the secret service account was handled.
Mdluli’s legal troubles extend beyond this trial. He was jailed for five years for kidnapping, assault, and intimidation on 29 September 2020. He and his accomplice Mthembeni Mthunzi were convicted of kidnapping and assaulting a man believed to be his partner’s lover, Oupa Ramogibe. Mdluli had a long-term relationship with Tshidi Buthelezi dating back to his school days, and during that relationship she met Ramogibe, after which the two began seeing each other. Mdluli was released on parole in July 2022 after serving a third of his sentence.
The corruption trial, by contrast, concerns his conduct as a senior police official, and it is that case which carries the greatest weight for the public interest. The Crime Intelligence account was funded by taxpayers and intended to support the fight against crime. Allegations that it was used for private trips, personal accommodation arrangements, and bond payments strike at the question of who guards the guardians, and whether the answer comes through a functioning justice system.
With the matter now set down for November 2026, the wait continues. For the citizens whose money is at issue, and for the institutions charged with protecting public funds, the trial’s slow progress remains a measure of how seriously the state treats accountability at the highest levels of the police service.