The Hawks have arrested four officials from North West’s platinum belt. They are accused of defrauding the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality of more than R4-million.
Thabo Molefe, 39, Sello Molefe, 42, Mmabatho Modiba-Molefe, 43, and Sibusiso Mogale, 44, will appear before the Rustenburg magistrate’s court on August 15.
They are facing charges of fraud and money laundering. The suspects were arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit on July 27 and 28. They were arrested in Rustenburg, Vereeniging, and Pretoria.
The executive mayor, Suzan Nthangeni, said the arrest came after the municipality registered a fraud case in July 2022. This was following an internal audit that uncovered irregular payments to a mobile network provider.
Fraud uncovered by audit
“The audit allegedly discovered a loss of R1.7-million suffered by the municipality. This occurred between 2017 and 2020,” she said.
Upon conducting an investigation, the unit established that the municipality suffered a loss of over R3.8-million. The money was paid to a fraudulent account.
“It was further established that the fraudulent account belonged to Matsempe Holdings (Pty) Ltd. Sello Molefe, the former employee of the municipality, is the sole director,” Nthangeni said.
She said further probe revealed a transfer of over R1.4-million. It was transferred from Matsempe Holdings (Pty) Ltd to Remoikantse Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd. Sibusiso
Mogale, the municipality’s former employee, is the sole director.
The two former employees reportedly worked in the Information Technology department. The municipality was allegedly billed over R675,000 by Remoikantse Trading and Projects (Pty) Ltd.
Determined to root out corruption
Nthangeni said the municipality will pursue to recover all its monies from all these culprits. She accused them of looting the municipality for years.
“We are determined as council to root out fraud and corruption within the institution. This as part of our commitment to clean governance and ethical leadership.
“We are going to continue to support acting municipal manager, Dr Mothupi, with the mandate given by council. To deal decisively with those involved in acts of malfeasance. And in implementing of consequence management,” she remarked.
The Hawks’ North West Spokesperson Tinyiko Mathebula confirmed the matter. He said the investigation also implicated Sello Molefe. The latter transferred money from his company’s bank account into the bank accounts of his two family members. These are Thabo Molefe and Mmabatho Modiba-Molefe.
R4.4m loss
As a result, the municipality suffered a loss of R4.4-million.
He said following an investigation, a warrant of arrest was issued against the four suspects. It was executed over the weekend.
The quartet has already made their first court appearance and was released on bail. Sello Molefe and Sibusiso Mogale were granted R20,000 bail. Mmabatho Modiba-Molefe and Thabo Molefe were granted R10,000 bail each.
