John Block was the most powerful politician in the Northern Cape: ANC provincial chairperson and MEC for Finance. Christo Scholtz ran the Trifecta property group. Between 2006 and 2008 Trifecta secured more than R100 million in leases from Northern Cape provincial departments in Kimberley, Upington, Kuruman, Springbok and Douglas without competitive tender, and Block received gratifications — R228,000 and R500,000 among them — in return. Co-accused Yolanda Botha, the former Social Development head who became an MP, died in 2014 before judgment.
In October 2015 the Northern Cape High Court convicted Block and Scholtz of corruption and money laundering (S v Scholtz [2016] ZANCHC 90), and on 6 December 2016 sentenced each to 15 years' imprisonment, fining Trifecta R1.2 million. The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed their appeal in August 2018 ([2018] ZASCA 106); both failed to report to prison and were declared fugitives before surrendering. Block: "It's not over yet." In October 2019 the SCA upheld a confiscation order of R59.8 million — R6 million in profits and R53 million in the advantage gained by bypassing tender — payable to the state. Block is one of very few sitting provincial ANC chairs ever jailed for corruption.