Suspended Lepelle Northern Water Board CEO Phineas Legodi fears for his life after bogus Hawks officials came looking for him.
Speaking to Sunday World this week, Legodi said he is now afraid that exposing corruption on water tenders within the entity might cost him his life. Previously, this publication reported that Legodi accused Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Lindiwe Sisulu of allegedly breaching procurement processes in appointing a company to deal with water shortages in Limpopo.
This resulted in Sisulu dissolving the entity’s board and commissioning a probe into the board’s financial affairs and subjected Legodi to a lifestyle audit. In an affidavit he deposed to the police this week, Legodi said he received a suspicious call on Thursday from a man called Ndlovu, who told him he was a police officer from the Hawks unit in Gauteng. Legodi said Ndlovu told him he was accompanied by five other officers and they had a warrant for his arrest on a charge of mismanagement of public funds worth R10-million.
He said the officer told him to meet at Polokwane police station so they can conclude the arrest and start with the bail application process. Legodi explained that he informed his lawyer who then uncovered that the operation was bizarre. His lawyer advised him that there was a possibility the arrest warrant was a hoax.
“While we were still consulting, we received a tip-off from one local officer, that the entire operation looks suspicious. One of the team members, namely Ndlovu, told him that they need money,” said Legodi.
“In other words, they staged the whole operation with an intent to extort money. He further tipped us that the said Ndlovu told him there is no warrant of arrest. “We never went to the police station. There was a stage when Ndlovu told me to switch off my phone so that other officers who was [sic] with him must not find me. He will then ensure that we meet in Johannesburg during the night of 16 July 2020.
He continued: “This is one of the reasons that entrenched my suspicion that this is a hoax.” Legodi said the bogus officers went as a far as looking for him at his place of work and at home. “I have never given anyone permission to harass me and soil my name and image in the manner Ndlovu and company did. Their deeds constitute a series of criminal acts such as possible extortion, impersonating police officers, corruption and crimen injuria. There is danger to my life and that of my family.”
Limpopo police spokesperson Motlafela Mojapelo confirmed this week that a case of extortion has been opened and no arrests have been made.
