Category: Crime & Corruption News

Acting Public Service and Administration Minister, Thulas Nxesi, says corruption has caused great suffering and harm to the country and the continent.

“Corruption has often been seen as an African and developing world phenomenon, mostly because of underdeveloped governance frameworks and lax judicial systems, as compared to richer countries,” Nxesi said on the eve of International Anti-Corruption Day.

Corruption, he said, is a trans-border problem found in all societies, regardless of economic development. Its impact is catastrophic on all societies, as it stifles economic growth and development, and limits opportunities to break the cycle of poverty.

“I would like to emphasise that it also undermines the very essence of our existence and ultimately the cohesion of society itself,” Nxesi said.

Addressing the first day of the International Anti-Corruption Day Summit at UNISA in Pretoria on Thursday, the Minister said International Anti-Corruption Day 2022, observed on 9 December, is meant to create awareness about the impact of corruption on the nation.

On 18 November 2018, Cabinet approved the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS), which provides a framework and action plan for South Africa.

The NACS is based on the principle that there should be prevention and combating of corruption through good governance, transparency, integrity management and accountability in society, including the early detection of potential corrupt practices to supplement the reactive measures executed by law-enforcement agencies and other anti-corruption bodies.

Nxesi said the collective effort of society as a whole as well as and an integrated approach to the fight against corruption will help mitigate the risk of costly commissions of inquiry, forensic investigations and other legal processes.

Acting Public Protector, Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, said there was a need to provide better protection to whistle-blowers.

She conveyed her sincere gratitude to the many courageous and brave whistle-blowers who brought various allegations of fraud and corruption to the attention of the Public Protector and those who gave evidence at the State Capture Commission.

“I agree that we are indebted to the men and women who executed their functions tirelessly and honestly in our criminal justice institutions who, without fear or favour, worked to turn testimony presented to the Commission into evidence that can now be used in prosecutions.

“We are indebted to the diligent public servants and public representatives, researchers, journalists, activists, workers and businesspeople who uncovered, spoke out against and resisted State capture,” Gcaleka said.

She said conflict of interest needs to be looked at especially at leadership level. She encouraged the promotion of media freedom as part of the tool to fighting corruption.

“Ethical leadership is needed to resist the abuse of entrusted power for private gain, as well as potential interference and to protect the anti-corruption agencies’ operational independence, thus enabling good governance.”

The International Anti-Corruption Day Summit will continue on Friday.

The Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, has placed offender Janusz Walus on parole under strict conditions with effect from Wednesday.

This follows the judgment of the Constitutional Court handed down on Monday, 21 November 2022.

Walus was only discharged from hospital today, as he had been receiving treatment after he was involved in a stabbing incident.

He will serve two years under community corrections in line with the parole regime upon which he is released.

“There is no question that offender Walus is a polarising figure in our budding constitutional democracy, and that his release has understandably re-opened wounds among some in society, especially the family of the late struggle icon, Chris Hani.

“Offender Walus’s actions sought to derail the democratic project at its most critical, formative stage, when the choice of either setting the country on a sustainable path of peace, democracy and reconciliation on the one hand, or chaos, civil strife and blood-letting on the other, was constantly one bad decision away.

“His killing of Hani was unqualifiedly among those actions that sought to condemn the country to the latter fate, had it not been for the inspired leadership of our nation’s founders and the resolve of the people of South Africa.

“In previously denying him parole, the decision was not in the spirit of avenging a stalwart of our liberation struggle, but it has always been within the context of giving effect to the interests of justice, from the perspective of what the sentencing court sought to achieve,” the Department of Correctional Services said in a statement.

In its unanimous judgment, the Constitutional Court set aside the judgment and order of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria, and placed offender Walus on parole.

“Our courts on previous occasions reminded us that our Constitution is located in a history which involves a transition from a society based on division, injustice and exclusion from the democratic process to one which respects the dignity of all citizens, and includes all in the process of governance.

“As such, the process of interpreting the Constitution must recognise the context in which we find ourselves and the Constitution’s goal of a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. This spirit of transition and transformation characterises the constitutional enterprise as a whole.

“Our parole system is not a wanton licence for unaccountability and impunity, neither does it nullify the original verdict and sentence imposed by the courts. Parole is an acknowledged part of our correctional system. It has proved to be a vital part of reformative treatment for the paroled person who is treated by moral suasion,” the department said.

Walus has been furnished with his parole conditions in terms of the Correctional Services Act. If he violates the conditions, he will be returned to a correctional centre, the department said.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) has imposed a revised administrative penalty of R20 million on Markus Johannes Jooste, former Steinhoff International Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for breaching the Financial Markets Act.

In a statement, the FSCA said R1 million of the penalty was levied for encouraging Jaap du Toit to sell his Steinhoff shares.

“Notwithstanding the disclosure and encouragement, Mr Du Toit never acted on the contents of the warning SMS. The provision prohibits an insider from encouraging or discouraging another person to deal in securities which the inside information relates to.

“This penalty is payable on or before 06 January 2022. On 29 October 2020, the FSCA imposed an administrative penalty of R161 568 068 on Mr Jooste for breaches of both section 78 (4) (a) and section 78 (5) of the Financial Markets Act,” said the FSCA.

The Financial Sector Tribunal on 13 December 2021 set the FSCA’s administrative penalty aside and referred the determination of an appropriate administrative penalty for the contravention of section 78 (5) of the Financial Markets Act to the FSCA for consideration.

The Tribunal concluded that Jooste did not contravene section 78 (4) (a) of the Financial Markets Act as the information he provided in the warning SMS sent to Jaap du Toit, Gerhardus Burger, Marthinus Swiegelaar and the late Ockert Oosthuizen to encourage them to sell their Steinhoff shares, was vague and imprecise.

Section 78 (4) (a) prohibits an insider from disclosing inside information to another person.

The tribunal advised the FSCA to consider alternative dates to calculate the losses avoided by the trades of Burger and Oosthuizen.

In arriving at the amount of the new administrative penalty and in line with the decision of the Tribunal the FSCA said it considered a range of factors.

“The amounts of the losses avoided by the recipients of the warning SMS as a result of the offending transactions, Jooste’s level of cooperation during the investigation, the seriousness of the breaches, the need to deter such conduct as well as Mr Jooste’s submissions regarding the merits of the case against him including his submissions regarding an appropriate penalty, were considered,” it said.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has lauded the country for being able to rebuild the supporting architecture to investigate and prosecute serious and other crimes within a short space of time.

This comes after the announcement by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) last week that it had reached a settlement with an international company implicated in corruption at Eskom.

In his weekly newsletter to the country, President Ramaphosa described this as a huge development in the country’s effort to hold those responsible for state capture to account.

The NPA Investigating Directorate finalised a landmark agreement with Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd to pay R2.5 billion in punitive reparations to South Africa. This in connection with bribes allegedly paid to obtain contracts with Eskom between 2014 and 2017.

This amount, which will be paid into the Criminal Asset Recovery Account, is in addition to R1.6 billion that ABB paid Eskom in 2020 to settle an investigation into allegedly criminal conduct involving contracts at the Kusile power station.

“Many of those involved in state capture and their enablers in the private sector saw nothing wrong with diverting public funds to private pockets. At the height of the state capture era, unscrupulous politicians repurposed state institutions for private enrichment and to cover their tracks.

“Today we have law enforcement authorities and a prosecuting authority devoted to investigating and prosecuting without fear or favour. We have state institutions committed to fulfilling their respective mandates regardless of the status or influence of any individual or a company,” the President said.

Now that progress is being made, the President said everyone must do everything they can to ensure that this work continues unhindered and that none of the gains that have been made are reversed.

He called on the nation to continue to support the agencies and people working in them with their full support and encouragement.

“We need to guard against any efforts to weaken these institutions or undermine their resolve. I have always said that the fight against corruption will not be won easily or quickly, given how many years it took for patronage and graft to become entrenched,” the President said.

Reflecting on the country’s fight against corruption in the last five years, President Ramaphosa said that government has worked hard to end the looting of resources meant for the benefit of South Africa’s people.

He said that this was evident in the prosecution of those responsible and the recovery of stolen funds.

“When we embarked on this journey, we understood that the results would not be felt overnight.

“We first had to rebuild state institutions that had been deliberately weakened, emptied of expertise and rendered incapable of preventing capture by criminal elements. We had to strengthen law enforcement institutions and shield them from outside interference,” President Ramaphosa said.

He said that one of the most important steps they took was to establish, in 2019, the Investigating Directorate in the NPA to deal with cases emanating from the state capture commission and other corruption-related offences.

“We recently announced plans to make the Investigating Directorate a permanent structure.

“We are now seeing the results of this work. The fight against state capture and corruption is gaining momentum,” he said.

In the last few months, several cases have been brought to court, with former executives of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) like Eskom and Transnet charged alongside business people for allegedly colluding to steal public funds.

In addition to the arrests of those implicated in wrongdoing and bringing the cases to court, the President said that progress is being made in other areas as well where there has been malfeasance.

The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) is persisting in its course to ensure that water users involved in unauthorised and illegal use of water resources are brought to book.

A farmer in Escourt has been fined over R1.7 million by the department for illegally abstracting water from Wagendrift Dam to irrigate his crops without a water use licence.

The owner of Redlands Farm, Roy Clifford Braithwaite, was illegally taking water from Wagendrift Dam to irrigate crops that are on the Redlands Farm. The farm is situated upstream of Wagendrift Dam

The dam, which is under Bushmans River Government Water Scheme in the Pongola-Mtamvuma Catchment Management Area, provides water for domestic water supply, agriculture (irrigation) and industrial demands for Estcourt and Weenan.

A water use licence is a document that is issued by the department in terms of Chapter 4 of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998), which allows the user to undertake an activity triggered in terms of Section 21 of the Water Act.

Section 21 says a user is required to apply for authorisation to take water from a water resource to use for any commercial activity.

The department’s Director of Compliance, Monitoring and Enforcement, Thandi Mopai, said the farmer was found to have contravened Section 21 of the Water Act after the department uncovered an abstraction point on the bank of a dam with no flow meter and that it was illegally pumping water into Redlands Farm for irrigation of crops using centre pivots.

Mopai said a Notice of Intention and a directive instructing the farmer to halt operation of abstracting water was issued after it was found that the farmer did not have permission to use the water.

However, she said the farmer did not stop the activity, which necessitated the department to take legal steps, using court route to force compliance.

“The farmer, through his legal representation, approached the department and agreed to pay an admission of guilt administrative fine of R1 770 392.75 within 45 days to avoid criminal charges. Through the Escourt Magistrate Court, the farmer was issued with an order to pay the fine within the set period, counted from 24 November 2022.

“On 24 November 2022, the Estcourt Magistrate court issued the accused with an order to pay an administrative fine of R 1 770 392.75 to the department’s main account, which was provided. A mediation agreement was signed after receiving proof of payment and the order made by the magistrate on the same day,” Mopai said.

Mopai warned that the department will continue in its efforts to root out illegal and unauthorised water use, as it impacts negatively on the livelihood of the people in as far as water provision is concerned.

The National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA)  Asset Forfeiture Unit has seized assets worth some R37 million from several accused charged with fraud and corruption in the Mhlatuze Water Board matter.

The assets include residences in Cape Town, Durban, Richard’s Bay and Pietermaritzburg and several luxury vehicles including a Range Rover, Mercedes Benz and a BMW.

Assets held in trusts and companies and cash in bank accounts has also been seized.

According to the NPA, the charges relate to R37 million in tenders awarded by the Water Board in which the Water Board’s CEO Mthokozisi Duze, Chief Financial Officer Babongile Mnyandu, and attorney Sithembelo Mhlanga allegedly “acted in concert with each other to circumvent the outcome of supply chain management protocols” in order to award tenders to Mhlanga Incorporated which is owned by Mhlanga.

“Mhlatuze Water Board undertook a SCM [supply chain management] process to appoint a panel of service providers to render legal services to the water board. The approved budget for the panel was unlawfully increased by 640%, by the CEO and CFO.

“They then unlawfully awarded tenders to the value of approximately R37 million to one law firm – Mhlanga Incorporated – and excluded 15 other law firms. It is alleged that the CEO and CFO also received undue benefits from the said law firm during the period that the CEO and CFO had processed/approved the award of tenders to the said firm,” the NPA said.

The matter against the accused is expected back in court on Tuesday.

Transnet says government’s ban on the export of scrap and waste metal will go a long way in the fight against metal theft.

Government recently announced that the six-month ban is aimed at making it difficult for criminals to sell stolen copper cables and other metals.

State-owned companies (SOCs) such as Transnet, Eskom and PRASA [Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa] have become a target for metal and cable thieves, costing South Africa’s economy billions of rands annually.

“We are pleased that government has acted decisively against the scourge of metal theft, which doesn’t just plague Transnet. Transnet Freight Rail [TFR] has a rail network infrastructure of 30 400 km in track, and theft and vandalism of our infrastructure results in delays on the system and possible derailments.

“TFR has long viewed this as economic sabotage. Since 1 April 2022, there have been more than 377 export coal trains cancelled due to security incidents, which is about an average of 11 trains a week. Whilst this is an improvement compared to the 2021/22 financial year, the security solution is not sustainable,” the SOC said.

Transnet revealed that since the beginning of the financial year, it has lost some 742km of cable to criminality.

“Transnet has received assistance from coal customers in funding security on the North corridor from Ermelo to Richards Bay. This allowed the company to deploy additional security task teams and drones. As a result, there has been a 30% reduction in security incidents. However, the security incidents have not reduced sufficiently to completely reduce the impact on train cancellations.

“The announcement by government will go a long way to mitigate the security challenges experienced by TFR and industry. TFR looks forward to government’s finalisation of a more permanent legislative solution to curb cable theft,” the company said.

A senior Eastern Cape Education Department official, his wife and a businessman have appeared at the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court on charges related to a R4 million PPE tender.

Supply Chain Management chief director, Marius Harmse, his wife Elanore and businessman, Sigqibo Makupula, appearted in the court on charges of fraud, money laundering and corruption. They were granted R10 000 bail each.

The arrests come after an investigation by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) that revealed that Harmse had indirectly received some R328 000 in kickbacks for awarding the tender to Makupula’s company, Kups Trading.

“The SIU probe found that Makupula transferred a sum of R573 000.00… towards the purchase price of a vehicle, which was to be purchased by Mr and Mrs Harmse to the value of R850 000. Mr Harmse paid the balance of R277 000 to Star Motors, with the view to settle the balance of the purchase price. The vehicle was registered in the name of Mrs Harmse on 3 February 2021,” SIU spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said.

He explained that the vehicle was then sold months later and Harmse allegedly tried to conceal the proceeds.

“Harmse approached the Sales Manager at Star Motors, Mr Hubbard, during April 2021 to place the said motor vehicle on their pre-owned stand as a consignment unit to try and sell it on Mr Harmse’s behalf. Mr Hubbard agreed . The said motor vehicle was sold on 10 May 2021 and on the instruction of Mr and Mrs Harmse, to the value of R800 000.00.

“The purchase price was paid into Mr and Mrs Harmse’s Standard Bank account in the name of Trentrade 23 (Pty). Furthermore, the SIU investigation revealed that this is where the integration took place, the purchase of the said motor vehicle and it being transferred into the name of Mr Msimango [another Star Motors employee] and not that of Mr or Mrs Harmse shows their intent to hide the proceeds and reintroduce [them] as part of the financial system,” Kganyago said.

Two security guards are expected to appear in the East London Magistrate Court today after their arrest at Eskom’s Port Rex power station in relation to the alleged theft of diesel worth more than R145 000.

The arrests are the fourth such incident involving criminality at power stations over the past month.

The power utility said the two were arrested while on duty after investigations found that they were paid to permit “a vehicle to collect the stolen diesel from the site during the night shift”.

“The internal investigations supported by the Bidvest Protea Coin Investigation Team and SAPS [South African Police Service] arrested the two security guards a few days after Eskom laid criminal charges for the theft of diesel incidents.

“The investigations are ongoing to identify other suspects and the outcome shall determine further actions to be taken against the contracted security company, including but not limited to loss recovery,” Eskom said.

Eskom General Manager for Security, Advocate Karen Pillay, called the incident “appalling”.

“It is appalling that the individuals entrusted with the responsibilities of safeguarding our infrastructure resort to such acts of malfeasance. These arrests are another significant step in our fight against crime in Eskom, and we shall continue in our pursuit to ensure that the perpetrators face the full might of the law,” Pillay said.

She added that security measures at power stations are working hard to rid the organisation of criminality.

“In our efforts to clean out the organisation, we shall ensure that guarding companies contracted to Eskom toe the line in screening their personnel and delivering services of a high standard.

“The persistent and excellent work by the Eskom Security Team, Bidvest Protea Coin Investigation Team, and the South African Police Services (SAPS), who are all working tirelessly to identify and disrupt the criminal networks, are an indication of our commitment to deal with criminality in Eskom,” she said.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (dtic) has announced the approval by Cabinet of a comprehensive package of measures to address the damage caused by metal theft to public infrastructure and the economy by restricting and regulating trade of waste.

This also includes scrap and semi-finished metals. Implementation of the policy measures will proceed along what may broadly be described as a three-phased approach.

This follows the publication in the Government Gazette on 05 August 2022, of Draft Policy Proposals on Measures to Restrict and Regulate Trade in Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metal Waste, Scrap and Semi-Finished Ferrous and Non-Ferrous Metals Products to Limit Damage to infrastructure and the Economy (the draft policy) for public comment.

The department has received over 2 800 comments on the draft policy from across society, including business, industrial associations, organised labour, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), government departments and individuals.

Extensive comments were received from stakeholders within the metal sector, the mining sector, downstream manufacturing, and other parts of the economy. All comments were carefully analysed and considered.

“While the measures will impact on the commercial performance of parts of the scrap-metal industry, this is justified by the need for the government to act decisively against the scourge of metal theft that plagues the Republic of South Africa,” the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition said in a statement.

Accordingly, it is envisaged that the bulk of the proposed mechanisms outlined in the draft policy will be implemented.

dtic says the theft of ferrous metals imposes significant costs on society, albeit at a lower rate compared to copper.

“In the case of other metals like aluminium and other exotic metals, the problem of theft is lower but is still of grave concern to government. In addition, general metal trading and related exports provides a cover for the export of metals like copper and steel.

“Exports of ferrous waste and scrap metal will be temporarily prohibited but exceptions will be allowed. Ferrous scrap metal will be subject to the 6-month export prohibition but, unlike in the case of copper, exceptions will be made for stainless steel and ferrous waste and scrap that is produced in the ordinary course of business as a by-product of a manufacturing process.

“It is envisaged that the other aspects of the trading regime will be identical for both copper and non-copper metals. Both buyers and sellers of scrap, and all traders of semi-finished metal products, will need to be registered,” the department said.

Government extends its gratitude to the thousands of companies, workers, industry representatives, community organisations and members of the public who provided constructive comments and helpful suggestions.