…as DCEO, DPP appeal is enrolled in Court of Appeal
Moorosi Tsiane
THE Directorate on Corruption and Economic Offences (DCEO) and the acting Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Advocate Lehlanako Mofilikoane, have taken the fight over the M39 million fraud case involving former Local Government Principal Secretaries, Lefu Manyokole and Nonkululeko Zaly, to the Court of Appeal.
They are seeking to compel the High Court to hear the case.
The Court of Appeal is scheduled to hear arguments from the Crown and lawyers representing the accused on 8 April 2026. The state is challenging a High Court ruling that blocked efforts to try the matter at that level.
In November last year, Justice ‘Maliepollo Makhetha removed the case from the High Court roll and ordered that it be heard in the Magistrates Court — a decision the DCEO now argues was legally flawed.
Mr Manyokole successfully challenged the DCEO’s initial attempt to try him and his co-accused in the High Court. They face charges alongside several high-profile figures, including former Cabinet Principal Secretary Thabo Motoko, and several businesspeople, over the alleged embezzlement of M39,959,159.30 in state funds during the 2020/2021 flood disaster emergency.
The DCEO initially filed the case in the High Court, but Mr Manyokole contended that the move exposed him to harsher penalties and was unlawful. Through his lawyer and brother, Adv Mahlomola Manyokole, he mounted a fierce legal challenge, accusing the DCEO and DPP of acting “irrationally, maliciously, and unconstitutionally” by shifting the case from the Magistrates Court.
Adv Manyokole further argued that the DPP had abused her powers and failed to satisfy the requirements under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act (CP&E), including proving threats to public interest or interference with witnesses. He also highlighted that his client had suffered prejudice, noting that he had already lost his previous counsel, Adv Salemane Phafane KC, due to the higher costs associated with High Court proceedings.
Adv Jay Naidoo, representing the DCEO and DPP, dismissed these claims, asserting that the law grants the DPP broad discretion to determine where a matter should be tried.
However, Justice Makhetha found that the prosecution had failed to justify its decision. She ruled that subordinate courts were fully capable of handling such cases, noting they had “always tried similar matters,” and ordered that the case proceed in the Magistrates Court.
Dissatisfied, the DCEO has now appealed to the Court of Appeal, arguing that Justice Makhetha ignored established legal precedent and misinterpreted key legal provisions. The anti-corruption body contends that the judge took an “overly simplistic view” of the law and failed to properly consider the DPP’s constitutional powers and the broader interests of justice.
“It is submitted that the learned judge misdirected herself… and failed to appreciate that the High Court had already assumed jurisdiction over the matter,” the DCEO states in its appeal papers. The body also argues that the judge neglected to assess whether retaining the case in the High Court would prejudice the accused, insisting no such prejudice had been demonstrated.
In response, Mr Manyokole and Ms Zaly maintain that Adv Mofilikoane failed to justify why the case should be heard in the High Court rather than the Subordinate Courts.
“The court (both High Court and Court of Appeal) has not been furnished with any iota of justificational facts upon which the incumbent DPP relied when she removed the matter from the Subordinate Court around September 2023.
“The matter is compounded by the fact that the record that gave birth to the DPP’s decision to indict has not been dispatched, and it was conceded by the DPP that no such record exists,” Ms Zaly states in her heads of argument.
Mr Manyokole also argues that he was not given a hearing before the case was moved from the Maseru Magistrates Court to the High Court, making Adv Mofilikoane’s decision unlawful.
