The court is expected to deliver judgment on whether the seven accused will be released on bail. Newly added accused number eight, Janitha van Reenen, is also expected to formally deal with her bail application.

Van Reenen is alleged to be the mastermind behind the electricity-reconnection syndicate under investigation by the Gauteng Political Killings Task Team.

Police allege Van Reenen is the mastermind behind a syndicate accused of defrauding the municipality of approximately R9.9m through illegal electricity reconnections and the alleged theft and damage of critical infrastructure.

The seven other accused are David Senekal, 31, Caroline Maduna, 39, Kenneth Mahobe, 35, Hlawutelo Baloyi, 29, Pule Masilo, 36, Andries Maduna, 48, and Sibusiso Tshabalala, 46. They are accused of fraud, theft, tampering with essential infrastructure, and money laundering in connection with the alleged corruption involving Emfuleni’s revenue and electricity systems.

The accused allegedly offered to restore electricity in exchange for payment, before illegally reconnecting the supply and manipulating municipal records to reflect reduced amounts owed. The records would allegedly later revert to the original outstanding balances, while the electricity remained connected.

“We first uncovered fictitious invoice payments that were made between Janitha van Reenen and the municipality, where she played a major role in scamming clients of the municipality as well as defrauding the municipality,” said national police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe.

“We are talking about six to seven clients so far who have come forward, where Janitha would act as an Emfuleni employee, collecting money from these clients, and promising to pay that money over to the municipality. These clients started going to the municipality complaining that their service bills weren’t going down, and that is when that particular investigation started.”

The investigation uncovered allegations that Van Reenen was collecting money from clients on the promise that their municipal accounts would be settled, but the payments were not reflected as expected. That particular corruption was uncovered after clients approached the municipality with complaints about their outstanding service bills.

For the rest of the accused, it is alleged that the syndicate targeted businesses and individuals whose electricity supplies had been disconnected because of outstanding municipal accounts. The accused allegedly offered to restore electricity in exchange for payment. They would then allegedly reconnect the electricity illegally and manipulate municipal records to show reduced amounts owed.

OFM News/Zenande Mpame sm

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