EASTERN CAPE – Lesedi Mothuse (38) was released on R4000-00 bail by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after pleading guilty on charges of fraud on 25 May 2022. This happens after his arrest by the East London based Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation on the very same day.

During 2011, Mothuse applied for employment as a data capturer in the Department of Health in Cofimvaba where he submitted a Grade 12 certificate together with his application documents.

A verification of qualifications was later conducted by the Department of Health on the employee and it was discovered that the employee never passed Grade 12.

The matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation in November 2021. The investigation revealed that the department suffered an actual loss of more than R1.7 million through the payment of his salary in that period.

The trial date is set for 21 July 2022.

Source: South African Police Service