Court grants bail to 12 accused in Nelson Mandela funeral fraud case
The East London Magistrate’s Court has granted bail to 12 suspects, including Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba, in the Nelson Mandela funeral fraud scandal.
The accused were released on R1000 bail each.
The suspects include Buffalo City employees, prominent politicians, businessmen, and business entities.
They appeared in court on Friday on charges of corruption, money laundering, fraud, and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The suspects are accused of defrauding the Buffalo City Municipality of R10 million following the death of late former president Nelson Mandela in 2013.
According to National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), a total of R5.9 million were successfully transferred to the accused.
Three companies, Vazi and Mati, Forty Wings Lodge CC and Mpidos Emergence and Training CC, are also among the accused.
The companies were allegedly used to swindle the funds.
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Another suspect in the matter, Dean Fanoe, whose Mantella Trading 522 CC will be charged, but was not in court due to Covid-19 protocols.
"Before the Buffalo City Municipality had an opportunity to officially consider procurement services for the funeral, one of the suspects, Phumzile Mkolo, agreed with a service provider, Mzwandile Sokwali from Victory Ticket 750 cc, that his company would submit an inflated quotation for the transportation of mourners to various venues," says NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwenya.
"It is alleged that the BCM officials acted with a common purpose to defraud and manipulate municipal procurement processes through illegal deviation to ensure the appointment of Victory Ticket. Further, Nkuhlu, Mati and her company, Mpidos, received proceeds of unlawful activities, as arranged between Mkolo and Sokwali.”
In December 2014, Sokwali and his company, Victory Ticket, pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering after entering into a plea agreement with the state.
He was fined R100 000 and given a five year suspended sentence.
Ngwenya says the matter will be back in March for the remaining suspects to appear in court.
