MPUMALANGA – The Nelspruit Commercial Specialised Crime Court have on Wednesday, 16 August 2023, issued a restraining order against former Eskom employees and their relatives i.e. Nwabisa Ngxola, Cinderella Moropane, Edward Moropane and Jeffrey Moropane.
It is alleged that during the period between March 2012 and May 2013 Accused 1. (Nwabisa Ngxola and 2. (Cinderella Moropane) were employed at Eskom with Ngxola responsible for capturing payments and invoices whilst Moropane was a project co-ordinator.
During that period, a company called Mandla Power lines had a contract with Eskom and when the contract expired, he was then approached by Ngxolo and Moropane. They informed him to continue invoicing Eskom despite him not having done any work. Mandla power lines was told to transfer the funds into Chimanzi Investments after getting payment from Eskom. Fraudulent invoices were therefore submitted for payment for work not done. Chimanzi investments belongs to Chimanzi who was a boyfriend of Cinderella Moropane.
After the payments were made, monies were then transferred to Edward Moropane’s account (father of Cinderella) and that of her brother, Jeffrey Moropane. The total monies transferred to the above individuals equalled R2 600 000.00
Schedule of Assets frozen
Defendant 1: Nwabisa Ngxola: pension payout benefit (amount unknown).
2017 model Mini Cooper countryman (value unknown)
Defendant 2-Cinderella Moropane: Pension payout benefit (amount unknown)
A 2001 Nissan Almeira (value unknown)
Defendant 3-Edward Moropane: Erf 4876 Kanyamazane Township
2011 GWM Steed Single Cab 4×2 (value unknown)
A GWM Steed 5 K2 Single Cab (value unknown)
Defendant 4 -Jeffrey Moropane: 1996 Toyota Corolla
The matter was postponed to 6 October 2023 for consideration of confiscation.
The case against Edward and Jeffrey were withdrawn during trial. They were only issued with restrain orders for the assets which were proceed of crime. There was no assets found from Micheal Chimazi though he was sentenced on the 1 March 2023 to eight (08) years imprisonment wholly suspended for 5 years on condition that the he is not found guilty and convicted for similar offences during the period of suspension.
Nwabisa Ngxola was found guilty by the Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court on 3 May 2023. She was sentenced to ten (10) years imprisonment for sixteen (16) counts of fraud. A further seven years imprisonment for thirty-nine (39) counts of corruption and another additional seven years imprisonment for forty-eight (48) counts of money laundering were imposed on the accused. The court ordered that the sentences should run concurrently, therefore Ngxola will serve 10 years direct imprisonment without option of fine.
The case against Cinderella Moropane was postponed to 31 August 2023 for sentencing.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks Major General Gerber applauded both investigating team and prosecution authority for the verdict imposed to the criminal group. He further said that “This is a good example for those who want to feel by skin first. Payback the money. These are the public servants monies which they earn hard, said the General’’.
Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=47843.
