On Tuesday 29 March 2022, a former uMhlabuyalingana Municipality Manager, Sipho Manqele (61) briefly appeared in the Durban Specialised Commercial Crime Court for two counts of fraud.
It is alleged that in 2010 Manqele submitted fraudulent payment certificates to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). The first service provider was paid R292 500.00 for the work that was incomplete and the second one was paid R794 866.00 for the services that were not rendered. As a result the department suffered an actual loss of R1087 366.00.
A case of fraud was reported at eManguzi police station and the case docket was allocated to the Hawks members from Durban Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for intensive probe. He was arrested yesterday and released on R2000.00 bail. The case was postponed to 3 May 2022 for pre-trial conference and discovery.
