A senior Durban Solid Waste (DSW) official testifying in the Zandile Gumede corruption trial on Tuesday told the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban how he confronted his superior about an email involving a contract for an accused company.

The official spoke about an email on 14 February 2018, where his superior instructed him and Robert Abbu, the former head of special projects who is the fourth accused in the case, to refrain from incurring any irregular expenditure.

The senior official was in the witness box for the first time in the November session of the trial following a delay due to the absenteeism of Mthokozisi Nojiyeza, an accused whose dodgy sick note resulted in Judge Sharmaine Balton issuing a stayed warrant of arrest for him last week.

On Tuesday, the case formally got underway with the senior DSW official detailing emails from his superior, who cannot be named due to safety concerns.

Balton has ruled none of the current bloc of witnesses, many of whom are eThekwini officials, can be named.

Prosecutor Ashika Lucken asked the senior official to read out the email from his boss, where contracts for El Shaddai Holdings Group CC, one of the accused companies, was discussed.

In the email, his superior emphasised the need for approvals and authorisations for variations on contracts.

"Make sure contracts are valid and in order. Please take leadership in this regard," the email said, addressing the senior official.

The senior official told the court following the email, he confronted his superior.

"I went and had a face-to-face discussion with him and expressed my displeasure at the email concerning me taking leadership in this matter," he said.

He was at pains to inform his boss he had nothing to do with the contracts, most of which now form part of the corruption trial.

"For the umpteenth time, I brought it to his attention that I played no role with regards to these contracts.

"I said that as [the superior] he should direct his displeasure to Robert Abbu, the head of special projects."

In the email, his boss also instructed Abbu he should ensure everything was above board "regardless of who gives you an instruction".

"You cannot do things without the knowledge and approval of the department head," the mail continued.

The senior official's boss also called for zero irregular expenditure with the El Shaddai contract and instructed him to "deal with this accordingly".

The senior official testified the contracts in question quickly went over their R45-million budget.

He said while he was aware they were paid; he did not know where the money came from.

"All I know is that it didn't come from my unit [DSW]."

Previously, the senior official testified how Abbu, his subordinate, was made the head of special projects, saying the position was essentially parallel to his, and much of his responsibilities were in the hands of Abbu.

He said Abbu moved to separate offices and he had little knowledge of what work was done by him afterward.

The State alleged Gumede and her 21 other co-accused siphoned more than R320-million from eThekwini's coffers through DSW.

During that time, refuse collection was a challenge with many areas, particularly Umlazi, complaining of trash piling up.

Among others, the State is attempting to prove racketeering charges where it alleged it identified a criminal enterprise run by Gumede, former African National Congress councillor Mondli Mthembu, former city manager Sipho Nzuza, Abbu and Sandile Ngcobo, the top five accused.

They allegedly used four companies to siphon the monies to preferred contractors and political groups, including the MKMVA, over 36 months.