The National Prosecuting Authority's (NPA) regional spokesperson, Henry Mamothame, says Mohau Shuping is facing eight charges of theft and fraud related to R5 million fraud case. His arrest follows that of Mayor Kgotso Khumalo and a former acting municipal manager (MM) Cyril Henry.

Khumalo and Henry were nabbed on Friday morning by the Hawks and were released on a warning in the Potchefstroom Magistrate's Court. Mamothame says it's alleged that the North-West University and the Programme for Community Development paid about R5m into a trust account of an attorney for the use of specific projects by the municipality but the three allegedly stole the money.

"The attorney was then given instructions to effect various payments, which include a R208 000 mayoral committee contribution towards the funeral of the late MEC for Agriculture, Duma Ndleleni, who passed away on 23 November 2018.

It was, however, discovered that R200 000 was paid directly into the account of one of the accused. From this amount, R64 218 was paid to an institution where Khumalo’s relative was a student," he adds.

It further alleged that invoices were falsified to effect more fictitious payments and it is alleged that Khumalo instructed the attorney to make a payment to an NGO which did not exist.

Khumalo and Henry have an order against them to not set foot at the municipal offices following their arrest. They were again ordered to not contact any witnesses while the investigations continue and more arrests are expected.

Meanwhile, on Friday Hawks provincial spokesperson, Tlangelani Rikhotso, said the funds which were intended for the municipality were, however, never declared to the Auditor-General (AG), Kimi Makwetu. The case against these two has been postponed to 1 December for further investigations.

 OFM News