Ntate Manuel Mabesa (53) appeared in the Bloemfontein Regional Court on Wednesday, 3 February 2021 facing charges of fraud, impersonating and perjury.
It is alleged that in June 2014 Mabesa approached the prosecutor and offered him R500 gratification as a thank you for not opposing bail in a case where Mabesa was the defence attorney in a robbery case.
The prosecutor doubted Mabesa’s integrity and work ethic and initiated a background check on him. He found that his offices were at the Free State Bar council and he reported the matter to the Hawks for further investigation.
Preliminary probe by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team revealed that Mabesa was admitted as an Advocate by the Bar council. The high court was also approached for documentation and his degree from the University of Free State amongst the documents was confirmed to be fraudulent after following the verification process.
Mabesa was convicted and sentenced to 10 years direct imprisonment.
