Durban — A Msunduzi Municipality employee will appear in court again next week for 50 counts of fraud of over R900 000.
National Prosecuting Authority KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Andile Cyprian Mkhize, 34, a senior salary officer at the Msunduzi Municipality, appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, on 50 counts of fraud amounting to about R948 000.
“The state is alleging that between October 2018 and September 2019, Mkhize defrauded the municipality by manipulating the payroll system,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
“The matter was remanded to September 21, 2022, for a bail application.”
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court dismissed an application for leave to appeal the conviction and sentence of KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Treasury former head Dumisani Sipho Derrick Shabalala.
Last week, Shabalala was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for fraud, 15 years’ imprisonment for corruption, 10 years’ imprisonment for money laundering and 5 years’ imprisonment for contravening the Public Finance Management Act. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently, resulting in an effective 15 years’ of imprisonment.
Shabalala advised the court that he wanted to make an application for leave to appeal his sentence and conviction. The court allowed this and Shabalala’s bail was extended until Tuesday.
Ramkisson-Kara said that following Tuesday’s refusal of the application for leave to appeal, Shabalala’s bail has been cancelled and he will have to start serving his sentence.
Shabalala’s conviction relates to his receipt of R1.5 million from Intaka Investments, for the acquisition of “Wataka” water purification plants valued at R44 million. The offence occurred between 2004 and 2007 when Shabalala formed a relationship with Uruguayan businessman, Gaston Savoi, and the company Intaka Investments.
He then travelled to Brazil to view the purification equipment. On his return to South Africa, he wrote to the then MEC Dr Zweli Mkhize, recommending that monies be allocated from the poverty alleviation fund for the acquisition of the water purification plants from Intaka. The process culminated in the awarding of a contract for twenty-two (22) “Wataka” plants.
Shabalala was the chairperson of the procurement committee that awarded the contract.
Daily News