Two senior state officials have briefly appeared in court on charges of corruption and defeating the administration of justice.

Suspended head of the Mpumalanga human settlements department, Kebone Masange, and former acting Director of Public Prosecutions in Mpumalanga, Matric Luphondo, briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday.

The case was transferred to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria where the trial will be held from 23 May to 17 June 2022.

During their court appearance, the indictment and copies of the docket were handed to the accused.

The court also reminded the accused not to communicate or interfere with State witnesses, National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said.

Masange, who was born in Zimbabwe, was arrested in September 2020 on charges of fraud, possession of fraudulent documents and contravention of the Immigration Act, News24 previously reported.

It is alleged that he was in the country illegally and used fraudulent documents in his application for the head of department position. Luphondo allegedly colluded with Masange to make the criminal charges against him disappear.

Mahanjana added: "The pair are facing three counts of corruption, five counts of defeating the administration of justice, two counts of corruption by a member of the NPA and one count of conspiracy to commit corruption.

"The matter was postponed to 3 February 2022 for pre-trial [proceedings] to ascertain readiness of the parties to proceed with the trial," Mahanjana said.