The Johannesburg high court has dismissed an application by a convicted fraudster, Jeremiah Dube, for bail pending an appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) against his conviction and sentence.
In April 2024 Dube, from Zimbabwe, and six other people were sentenced to a cumulative 205 years behind bars for 391 counts ranging from fraud to forgery, uttering, corruption and money laundering.
The Johannesburg high court sentenced Dube, a father whose one child was seven when he was arrested 10 years ago, to 65 years, while his co-accused — who all operated a VAT fraud syndicate — were sentenced to terms ranging from five to 25 years.
When his bail application was heard on December 19 last year, the court raised the issue of what Dube’s status was in terms of being able to stay in South Africa if he was to be released on bail.
It was revealed Dube has been a prisoner for the past 10 years and is illegally in South Africa and therefore not capable of residing permanently anywhere in the country.
Dube was arrested in July 2015, his trial commenced in August 2018, and he was sentenced in 2024. He has never been granted bail and has therefore spent the past decade in prison - initially as an awaiting-trial detainee and subsequently as a sentenced prisoner.
During the trial, Dube brought several bail applications, all of which were refused, including an application to the SCA. During the duration of the trial, there were numerous interlocutory applications by Dube, all dismissed due to a lack of merits.
The Constitutional Court “closed” the doors of that court for Dube following what it deemed an abuse of process by Dube.
The high court application for bail follows an order by the SCA dated May 2 2025 in which the appellate court referred Dube’s leave to appeal application for oral argument.
In the high court, Dube submitted that the fact that he does not have a valid passport or a valid permit to stay in South Africa should not play a role in the court’s consideration of bail. He said this was because he could just go to the Zimbabwean Embassy and get a new passport, and after that getting a permit should also not be a problem, as he was previously given one.
In finding against him, the high court said Dube was not the primary caregiver of a minor child and had not been that for the past 10 years.
It said Dube has been in prison since the minor in question was seven years old. During this time Dube could not have been the primary caregiver of the child and the fact that he was a father of the minor did not make him the primary caregiver, which must be considered when bail is considered.
The court found that Dube’s other children are all adults and not dependent on him.
“The fact that they reside in South Africa would not prohibit him from leaving the country. There is therefore nothing in the personal circumstances of [Dube] that convinces the court to grant the applicant bail,” the court said in a judgment handed down on Monday.
TimesLIVE
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