The two had spent two nights behind bars following their arrest on Wednesday.
Image: FILE
Former Ekurhuleni city manager Imogen Mashazi and suspended human resources head Linda Gxasheka will sleep in their own beds on Friday night after the Germiston Magistrate's Court granted them bail.
The two had spent two nights behind bars following their arrest on Wednesday.
The state told the court it was no longer opposing bail as the residential addresses of the two had been verified.
The two were each granted bail of R50,000.
Their co-accused, suspended Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) deputy chief Julius Mkhwanazi and suspended head of legal services Kemi Behari, were granted bail of R50,000 each on Thursday.
The four were arrested on charges of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice.
Mashazi and Gxasheka's bail applications had been postponed to Friday after the state raised concerns about their residential addresses when the four first appeared on Thursday.
The state told the court that investigators had identified several properties linked to Mashazi, including homes in Meyersdal, Bedfordview, Waterfall, Sunward Park, a Brakpan estate and Mpumalanga.
Gxasheka was also linked to multiple properties, including two in Gauteng and one in the Eastern Cape, with only one address verified at the time.
Mashazi's lawyer Johan Eksteen disputed the claims, telling the court that several of the listed properties did not belong to his client.
The case flowed from the so-called blue lights saga.
It is the state's case that Mashazi and other senior City of Ekurhuleni officials shielded Mkhwanazi from disciplinary action after he allegedly fitted police blue lights to private luxury vehicles owned by controversial businessman Vusimuzi "Cat" Matlala.
The state further said Mashazi, Behari and Gxasheka acted with a common purpose to protect Mkhwanazi, and that Behari and Gxasheka received salary increases the council never approved in return.
The municipality allegedly paid Behari and Gxasheka a combined R2.66m in unlawful salary increases between the 2023/24 and 2025/26 financial years.
Mashazi has previously denied any wrongdoing.
Testifying before the Madlanga Commission in December last year, she insisted she did not interfere to block Mkhwanazi from facing a disciplinary inquiry.
"I was far from this process," she said at the time.
Behari has also denied the allegations, saying claims that he accepted a bribe were false and without foundation.
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