CAPE TOWN – A former driver in the employ of the Vehicle Testing System (VTS) at the Cape Town International Airport, was fined R10 000 or 12 months imprisonment on Wednesday, for forging a signature on a fraudulent application for the de-registration of a vehicle.
Herold Jacobus Joubert, 58, initially faced two counts of forgery and one of corruption.
However, in a plea-bargain negotiated by defence lawyer Liesl Vermaak, prosecutor Simon Leope withdrew the corruption charge, as well as one of the two counts of forgery, and accepted Joubert’s plea of guilty to the remaining one forgery charge.
Joubert was permitted to pay off the R10 000 fine in 10 monthly installments of R1 000, the first due on May 31.
In addition to the fine, Joubert was given a four-year prison sentence, conditionally suspended for four years.
He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm – routine procedure in a conviction involving dishonesty.
The proceedings took place in the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Bellville, before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg.
The charge sheet details how Faith Bikani borrowed a 2009 model Mercedes Benz from ANC MP, Enock Mbili, but refused to return it when Mbili died in July, 2012.
It is alleged that, in order to keep the car, Bikani had the ownership of the vehicle fraudulently changed to her name.
Joubert assisted, by forging Mbili’s signature on the application to de-register the vehicle from Mbili’s name, to enable Bikani to register it in her name.
On the withdrawn corruption charge, Joubert was alleged to have accepted a R1 000 reward for his involvement.
Bikani was Joubert’s co-accused, but she has absconded, and is still at large.
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