Day: September 7, 2022

President Cyril Ramaphosa has congratulated Liz Truss following her appointment by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Presidency said South Africa and the United Kingdom enjoy historically strong and friendly relations.

“The President expressed confidence that this strategic relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength,” the statement read.

Bilateral cooperation between South Africa and the United Kingdom covers a range of areas including trade and investment, science and innovation, health, energy and the environment.

South Africa and the United Kingdom collaborate within the multilateral context to address global challenges such as peace and security, underdevelopment, poverty, economic growth, climate change and prevent future pandemics.

“President Ramaphosa looks forward to working with Prime Minister Truss to further strengthen the bonds of cooperation and friendship between the two countries,” the Presidency said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

EASTERN CAPE – The Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court fined 37-year-old Bandlakazi Bambeni R150 000-00 or 12 months direct imprisonment on 06 September 2022 for fraud.

On 23 October 2019, the client of Old Mutual went to their offices in a mall at Mthatha to seek advice on applying for a consolidation loan. Bambeni persuaded the client to apply for an additional loan of R176 000-00 which was declined by Old Mutual due to excessive number of deductions on the client’s payslip. Bambeni made alterations on the client’s payslip to make him qualify for the loan in the absence of the client. Unfortunately for Bambeni, the forensic team of Old Mutual easily detected the orchestration and immediately lodged a complaint with the Mthatha based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team for exploration.

The investigation ensued and led to the arrest of Bambeni on 14 July 2022. She made her first appearance in court on 15 July 2022 and was released on bail. She made a number of court appearances in Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court where she was ultimately convicted and sentenced.

Source: South African Police Service

GAUTENG – The station commander of SAPS Bramely, Colonel King commend the crime prevention members for a swift response of information by ATA office in connection with suspicious grey Polo sedan with two occupants.

Police followed up on the information and cornered the vehicle, which was subjected to a search that led to arrest of two suspects for possession of three filed unsilenced firearms and unlicensed ammunition. Suspects were then placed under detention for further investigations and will be linked with other crimes involving illegal firearms.

The police in Bramely are doing all with the powers vested upon them by section 205 of the constitution on the objectives of South African Police Service in keeping community safe and eradicating crime.

Members will be paraded by the management for an official appreciation.

Source: South African Police Service

KWAZULU-NATAL – A 15 year sentence was meted out to former Warrant Officer Danie Reyneke (63) by the Durban Regional Court today, 7 September 2022 on charges of theft of firearms, illegal possession of ammunition, illegal possession of explosives, possession of unlicensed firearms and negligent loss of firearms.

Reyneke, a former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks member is said to have committed these crimes between 1997 and 2014. He was arrested after the now retired police officer, Colonel Herbie Heap conducted an earnest investigation into the matter. In 2014, the accused was found with a number of firearms, ammunition and explosives. An investigation was conducted by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation where Colonel Heap established that Reyneke, as a police officer abused his powers to steal firearms from the police stations in the Northern parts of KwaZulu-Natal. He would arrive at the police station and book out the firearms from the exhibit register citing that he was taking them for ballistic testing and not return them.

Reyneke had five licensed firearms under his name but only three were found and the other could not be located. He had not reported any loss on his licensed firearms thus he was charged with negligent loss of firearms.

After an intensive investigation, he was arrested in July 2018 where the court released him on warning. He was then convicted in June 2022 afterwhich he absconded before he could be sentenced. A warrant for his arrest was issued by court and he recently returned citing that he was physically not well.

The court sentenced him to an effective 15 year imprisonment.

The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Lieutenant General Godfrey Lebeya (Adv/Dr) commended the Anti-Corruption investigation team especially the retired officer who ensured that sufficient evidence was taken to court for a successful prosecution.

Source: South African Police Service

NORTHERN CAPE – The Prieska SAPS followed up on information regarding two burglaries that recently took place in Prieska and surrounding areas.

The arrest of the suspects were effected between 05 and 06 September 2022. Police pounced on the first six suspects in Prieska and confiscated laptops, hard drives and other goods that was allegedly stolen during the house breakings. Police also found 3 full mandrax tablets after searching one of the suspects.

Police continued the actions the following day and arrested five more suspects with the alleged stolen goods and seized a third laptop, a drill machine and a bicycle.

The male suspects between 26 and 59 years, will face charges of house breaking and theft, possession of suspected stolen goods and possession of drugs.

The suspects will be appearing in the Prieska Magistrate’s Court soon. The investigation continues.

Source: South African Police Service

KWAZULU-NATAL – Two accused, Alex Njovuyalema (54) and Akhona Mbasane (38) briefly appeared in the Durban Regional Court today facing charges of theft, fraud and money laundering.

It is alleged that Njovuyalema use to pretend to be a salesman and would enticed potential buyers of second hand imported vehicles to purchase through him. He would show them various second hand vehicles and convinced them to either pay a deposit or full amount. Different victims paid an amount of up to R1 667 430.00 to the account number provided by him and no vehicles were delivered.

Number of case dockets were registered in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Western Cape provinces. Intensive investigation was then conducted by Hawks members from Pietermaritzburg Serious Organised Crime Investigation hence they were arrested today. They were released on R20 000.00 bail each and the case was postponed to 6 October 2022.

Source: South African Police Service

EASTERN CAPE – The Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court handed over a 15 year direct imprisonment sentence to Linda Labuschagne (44) for numerous charges of fraud on 06 September 2022.

Between 2017 and 2020, Labuschagne was employed as a bookkeeper at the BVSA Tax Consultancy Firm and DP Wealth Tax Consultancy respectively where she misappropriated funds to the value of more than R2.4 million. From BVSA, she misappropriated more than R1.7 million and more than R680 000-00 from DP Wealth.

Labuschagne orchestrated the transactions by providing clients from both companies with bank accounts purporting to be those of SARS whereas they were her personal bank details.

The Tax Consultancy firms received complaints from their clients for unpaid tax returns and they decided to lodge complaints with the Gqeberha based Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation which led to her subsequent arrest on 20 July 2021.

Labuschagne made a short appearance at the Gqeberha New Law Court on the very same day and was released on R10 000-00 bail with conditions to cease her fraudulent conduct. She was convicted on 20 April 2022.

She did not adhere to the bail conditions by continuing with other fraudulent tendencies that resulted in her re-arrest by the Commercial Branch Mount Road Task Team on 19 August 2022. The new matter was remanded to 26 September 2022 for trial processes.

The 15-years sentence left the Provincial Head, Major General Obed Ngwenya proud of the team for utilising their investigation skills optimally by bringing all the evidence to court about the solemnity of the fraudulent conducts of Labuschagne as it will be a deterrent to the other would-be perpetrators.

Source: South African Police Service