Staff Reporter
The case involving several people accused of defrauding the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of about R244 million has been postponed to February next year.
The accused, who include seven people and a private company, made a brief appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrates Court on Monday before the matter was postponed to February 3, 2021.
National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Phaladi Shuping told The Free Stater by telephone that the matter was postponed to allow the defence to get certain documents from the prosecutor.
“The defence made a request for further particulars but some of the legal representatives have not come to our office to get them,” he said.
“The information requested by the defence is meant to allow them to have a better understanding of the charges faced by their clients so they can adequately prepare themselves.
“The information they need is more detailed and won’t be contained in the final indictment.
“They have now agreed that they will give the prosecutor a memory stick or CD for him to download further particulars for them.”
Shuping said once all the parties to the matter are furnished with the further particulars, the case can be referred to the High Court for trial.
“I think it will be very unfair for the case to be transferred to the High Court when the legal representatives are not fully aware of the details to the charges faced by their clients,” he explained.
The accused are: former Free State agriculture chief finance officer Sylvia Dlamini, 49; businesswoman Malikomo Mohapi, 55; Superior Quality Trading, which trades as Rekgonne Community Projects; chief finance officer of the provincial agriculture department, Lerato Mngomezulu, 39; director for facilities management, Disebo Masiteng, 59; chief director for corporate services, Thomas Ndumo, 53; former director for agrarian reform, Mahlomola Mofokeng, 55; and former head of department Mbana Peter Thabethe, 54.
They face charges of forgery, uttering, fraud, money laundering, corruption and contravening the Black Broad-Based Empowerment Act.
About 58 counts have been listed against the accused.
The whole case, according to the state, hinges around Dhlamini – who is now the deputy director general in the Free State Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs – and Mohapi.
The two were arrested in July by the Hawks after they unearthed an alleged elaborate fraudulent scheme.
The two women allegedly hatched a plan to channel large sums of money from the provincial agriculture department using Rekgonne Community Projects, owned by Mohapi, as a conduit.
Around June 2014, Rekgonne Community Projects entered into an agreement with the Free State Department of Agriculture to implement all projects on behalf of the department for two years.
Between 2012 and 2016, the department is said to have paid about R244 million to the company.
During that period, Dhlamini, who was the department’s CFO, is said to have received about R267 000 from Rekgonne Community Projects as gratuity and the money was deposited into her Nedbank account disguised as different types of refunds and other payments.
The misleading descriptions, according to the state, include “loan repayment”, “TelkomSA”, “photocopy” and “Macufe sponsor”.
These descriptions were traced back to Rekgonne Community Projects which made the payments.
The alleged crime was uncovered during investigations into the much-publicised Estina Dairy case.
The matter is however not part of the Estina Dairy scandal which has since been struck off the court roll.
It was discovered that there were irregularities in the financial flow analysis of Dhlamini’s bank account, prompting the authorities to conduct a lifestyle audit on her.
As the CFO, Dhlamini was not supposed to receive presents from a company doing business with her department and, further to that, she never disclosed this to her employer.
The other five individuals were part of the Bid Evaluation Committee (BEC) and are alleged to have granted a contract to Rekgonne Community Projects without following set procedure.
It’s not clear if they benefited financially.
The state is arguing that members of the BEC have a fiduciary duty to evaluate documents submitted by all bidders and to make sure that they comply with set specifications.
Rekgonne Community Projects is said to have failed to comply with the specifications by submitting documents that were not certified as well as a forged Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment verification certificate.
Thabethe, as the HOD at that time, is also accused of failing to ensure that the Public Finance Management Act was followed in contracting the company as well as in the transactions that followed.