Ex-police clerk gets 53 years for stealing Madiba money
Mandela funeral fraudster to serve effective 13-year term, Hawks say
With just 26 days before the nation marks late iconic statesman Nelson Mandela’s centenary birthday celebrations on July 18, there has been a first criminal prosecution in the elaborate scam in which civil servants and politicians looted millions meant for the former president’s funeral in 2013.
Nomfundo Patience Shushu-Madubela, one of 10 SA Police Service clerks and a King William’s Town businessman accused of defrauding the Hawks of more than R520000 linked to preparations for the former president’s funeral, pleaded guilty to the crime and has been sentenced to 53 years.
She pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud and money-laundering.
However, she will only serve 13 years in prison as the sentences will run concurrently, Hawks national spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed with the Saturday Dispatch late yesterday.Shushu-Madubela is the first to be criminally prosecuted in a shameful scam in which government officials took the opportunity to cash in while the world was mourning for Madiba.
The looting of the grant involved various government departments and municipalities. Instead of using money meant for the mourning period, officials and politicians allegedly siphoned millions of rands from state coffers.
Mulaudzi said Shushu-Madubela pleaded guilty to all four counts and was sentenced by the Zwelitsha Regional Court on Thursday.
“She was sentenced to a total of 53 years imprisonment for four counts of fraud, of which nine of these years are suspended for a total of 20 years.
“In addition, she was sentenced to undergo 10-years imprisonment for money laundering, and three of these years are suspended for five years.
“All sentences will run concurrently with the first sentence of 15 years for fraud. Two years for the first sentence are suspended for five years. This all means Shushu-Madubela will serve 13 years’ direct imprisonment,” he said.
Shushu-Madubela was stationed at the supply chain management (SCM) section of the SAPS provincial headquarters in Zwelitsha when she conspired, allegedly with her then colleagues, to steal the money.
She was arrested in 2014 together with nine other suspects for allegedly flouting tender processes for the procurement of furniture for Mandela’s funeral.
While she has been jailed, Thozama Lunga, Nyanisa Victoria Feni, Noludwe Makapela, Novakusithiwa Albertina April, Busiswa Beryl Makhapela, Lulama Kaule, Nokubonga Jongihlathi, Nosipho Sigidi, Thozama Lunga and David Alibi, who were arrested with her by the Hawks anti-corruption investigation unit, will appear at the Zwelitsha Regional Court on August 13.
While the disgraced former clerk is the first to be convicted, others like WB Rubusana’s suspended ANC regional secretary Pumlani Mkolo, former Buffalo City Metro mayor Zukiswa Ncitha, her then deputy Temba Tinta, former council speaker Luleka Simon-Ndzele, ANC councillor Sindiswa Gomba, the metro’s executive support head Ondela Mahlangu and business owners Viwe Vazi and Dean Fanoe are still in the dock for the alleged crime.
Shushu-Madubela and another SAPS clerk, Lulama Kaule, had resigned mid-trial.
The majority of the accused are supply chain employees based at the SAPS provincial headquarters at Griffiths Mxenge Building in Zwelitsha.
Accused one is King William’s Town businessman, Alibi, who owns Workstation CC, a company that won a tender to supply office furniture for the new Hawks offices across the province in preparation for the state funeral.
Alibi allegedly colluded with four companies to defraud the Hawks of over R520000 with the help of the SAPS clerks, who are accused of facilitating – and authorising – fraudulent transactions and signed invoices. The court papers contend that Alibi approached four companies and asked them to give him their tax clearance certificates, company profiles, CK documents, business bank statements, invoices and quotations books.
The companies were paid through a Financial Authority [FA] number that belonged to Workstation CC, but for services that were not rendered.
Only a single supplier must be paid per FA number, as law dictates.
The companies were:
Soar-Biz Concepts, who were paid R82700;
K&M Plumbing, paid R92000;
Tulo & Dayo International Trading was paid R152063.20; and
De Sansha Retail, paid R99450.
Meanwhile, a separate trial that also involving 11 alleged fraudsters, including ANC heavyweights, accused of stealing the funds meant for Mandela’s funeral, was postponed to Thursday.
And if Mkolo, businesswoman Nosiphiwo Mati and Gauteng-based lawyer Zintle Nkuhlu have things their way, all charges against them will be dropped on Thursday.
The trio, who successfully applied in November for their case to be separated from the rest of the accused in their case, on April 24 made a brief appearance before East London Regional magistrate Sadia Jacobs, who postponed the case to June 28.
They asked for a new postponement so that they, together with their legal team, could prepare a presentation to the court on why prosecution against them should be halted.
The trio, through lawyer Nyameko Diniso, told Jacobs they believed the state had no case against them. They were arrested in 2014, together with Ncitha, Tinta, Simon-Ndzele, Gomba, Mahlangu and Vazi and Fanoe.
Suspended BCM chief financial officer Vincent Pillay joined his fellow accused in January.
They are all facing charges relating to the alleged misuse of over R5-million from BCM coffers, earmarked for the Mandeal’s memorial services and funeral in December 2013.
Pillay also wants his case to be separated from the rest of his co-accused. — malibongwed@dispatch.co.za..
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