Former employees of the Sekhukhune District Municipality in Limpopo have appeared in court, facing six counts of fraud, amounting to over R5 million.
Spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Limpopo, Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the municipal officials diverted money which was supposed to pay for security services and the completion of pre-cast VIP toilets structures in the municipality.
“Andries Mokgotho, 45, Bongani Masupye, 45, Kedibone Magagane, 45, Sivhadana Murovhi, 39, and Charles Malema, 42, appeared in Groblersdal Magistrate’s Court, charged with six counts of fraud,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
“The following suspects: Mokgotho, Magagane, and Malema were employees of the Sekhukhune District Municipality as expenditure clerk, expenditure manager and chief financial officer, respectively.”
It is alleged that in July 2018, they connived and directed the payment of R5.4 million to Murovhi and Masupye “who never rendered service to the municipality”.
“The monies were supposed to be paid to three service providers who were rendering security services, collecting water reticulation and completion of pre-cast VIP toilet structures,” said Malabi-Dzhangi.
The matter has been postponed to Monday next week for further bail hearing while the accused people remain in custody.
Earlier this week, IOL reported that the Hanover Regional Court in the Northern Cape sentenced 44-year-old municipal official Nomava Luwalala to eight years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, after she was convicted on at least 20 charges of fraud.
Luwalala made her first court appearance shortly after she was arrested in December last year.
“The accused (Luwalala) pleaded guilty in terms of Section 112 of Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 on all 20 counts of fraud as charged,” said Northern Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also known as the Hawks), Captain Tebogo Thebe.
The Hawks’ serious corruption investigation team executed a warrant of arrest against Luwalala on December 1 last year, and successfully investigated the matter against the Emthanjeni Municipality traffic department official, resulting in the conviction.
“Nomava Luwalala, worked as a cashier at the municipality's traffic department unit, where she manipulated the eNatis system (electronic national administration traffic information system) for over a period of time covering July 2019 to December 2020. While performing her duties, she failed to report all the monies received,” said Thebe.
The municipality suffered a loss of R120,252 as a result of Luwalala’s action, according to the Hawks.
IOL