DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

FREE STATE DIVISION

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MARCH 2022

FOREWORD by dpp

W

e bring you yet another incredible edition of our quarterly newsletter. These are indeed exciting times for our province.

Our massive recruitment drive has caused most vacant posts to be filled. After many years, we are now in a position to say that we are almost optimally capacitated.

We will continue to nurture and mentor our newly appointed staff members to ensure that we deliver on the mandate of the NPA. It is also such a huge relief to have received much needed funding and resourcing. Now we have no excuses not to do our work effectively and efficiently.

In addition, we have finalised many serious and high profile cases, bringing much needed justice to our community.

As always, I’m proud and honoured to belong to an amazing and exhilarating team of trailblazers. I am so proud of each and every one of you.

May we all continue to do our best every single day and continue to serve the community with a sense of pride and utmost humility.

DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

TOP STORY

BOYFRIEND GETS 20 YEARS FOR KILLING PREGNANT GIRLFRIEND

Advocate Tholoana Sekhonyana with the family of Dora Lecwidi The High Court of South Africa: Free State Division has handed a 25-year-old Lebohang Morake from Brandfort an effective 20 years imprisonment after he was convicted of killing his girlfriend, Angelina Dora Lecwidi in May 2021.

Morake and Lecwidi were drinking at a local tavern when they were involved in a verbal argument after he accused her of cheating. He grabbed her by her clothes, pulled her outside and assaulted her by hitting her with fists, kicking her and hitting her head against a stone. She died two days after being admitted to a hospital.

She was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of

her death.

Morake, in his defence, told the court that he never intended to kill Lecwidi and her death was a mistake but the State Prosecutor, Advocate Tholoana Sekhonyana requested the court to reject his version because the doctor who conducted the post-mortem testified that the injuries sustained by the deceased could only be as a result of a heavy beating or a fall from a considerable height.

“The post-mortem revealed that the deceased suffered fatal injuries because she was severely assaulted and therefore, the accused cannot tell the court that her

death was a mistake as he was aware of his actions. The death of the deceased has affected her family as evidenced in the three victim impact statements that were written by the aunt, sister and the cousin of the deceased”, said Sekhonyana.

Sekhonyana further told the court that the accused failed to advance any compelling and substantial circumstances and therefore the court should impose a heavy sentence that will send a message that the courts are taking femicide cases serious considering that the country is looking at the courts for punishment of perpetrators of these offences.

editors editors Editor: Phaladi Shuping Communications Manager Editor: Phaladi Shuping Tel: 0514106000 Manager Communications Email: Pshuping@npa.gov.za Tel: 0514106000 www.npa.gov.za Email: Pshuping@npa.gov.za www.npa.gov.za

Editor-in-Chief: Adv Navilla Somaru Editor-in-Chief: Director of Public Prosecutions Adv Navilla Somaru Free Division ActingState Director of Public Prosecutions

TOP STORY

FAKE TRADITIONAL HEALER SENTENCED FOR UNFAIR BUSSINESS PRACTICE “People work hard for their money only to be defrauded by unscrupulous people like Sophia Maya, who have no respect for the law. She took advantage of the complainant and robbed him of his 30 years savings.The court should impose harsh punishment on the accused to send a clear and unambiguous message that it will deal harshly with those who are hellbent on robbing people of their hard-earned money”.

This was part of Advocate Edwin Munyai’s argument during aggravation of sentence in a case against Sophia Maya (27) who pretended to be a traditional healer and robbed Ernestos Mangoele (60) of almost R1 million. Munyai requested the court to impose a harsh punishment on Maya after she was convicted of unfair business practice, defeating the ends of justice, fraud and contravention of the Immigration Act.

Adv Edwin Munyai

Magistrate Botsile Lefenya sentenced Maya to 15 years for unfair business practice, 10 years for fraud, four years of contravention of Immigration Act and 12 months for defeating the ends of justice. Maya, Ugandan national, will effectively serve 15 years imprisonment after the magistrate ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

Maya asked Mangoele to bring all the money he has because she was going to make him rich. Mangoele then resigned from the mine where he has been working for 30 years and cashed his pension which was R955 000. Between September and November 2020 Mangoele withdrew all his provident fund in instalments of between R20 000 and R200 000. He was always accompanied by Maya when he went to the bank. Maya disappeared once all the money was withdrawn and it was only then that Mangoele realised that he was robbed. Maya was arrested and charged.

NPA AND STAKEHOLDERS REACH OUT TO COMMUNITY OF BOTSHABELO The NPA together with other stakeholders reached out to the community of Botshabelo in December 2021 when they embarked on education and awareness campaign that was held at Botshabelo Mall. The purpose of the event, according to the senior prosecutor, Collen Molebatsi was to create visibility and to give an assurance to the community that there are institutions that are available to assist particularly with issues of Gender-Based Violence.

“We wanted to show the community of Botshabelo that we are available

is on Gender-Based Violence. Our partnership with other stakeholders was our way of showing the community that there are other institutions that can assist them if they do not want to go to court”, said Molebatsi.

Other stakeholders that took part in the event were Department of Health, Childline Free State, Moral Regeneration Movement, Botshabelo Moral Regeneration Forum, Cyril Ramaphosa Foundation as well as NGO’s Kganya and Setshabelo. to assist with their problems hence we partnered with other stakeholders whose focus

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TOP STORY

FORMER MAYOR AND CFO SENTENCED FOR FRAUD Former mayor of Nketoane Local Municipality, Mandla Mamba and the Chief Financial Officer, Vincent Mkhefa were sentenced to eight years imprisonment each after they were convicted of fraud, money laundering and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act which caused the municipality to lose R364 000.They were sentenced together with Caroline Nketu, a service provider, who was

slapped with a sentence of four years by Bethlehem Commercial Crimes Court.

During his term as mayor, Mamba irregularly sourced quotations and paid for playground equipment from Nketu that another company had already provided.

Nketu, as a service provider, was also requested to provide quotations for the same tender contract. Two quotations were then submitted for the amount of R198 500 each. Mkhefa, the former CFO,

authorised two payments to Nketu for the amount of R165 600 and R198 500 on two different occasions. These payments were made to Nketu without any service rendered to municipality.

TWO YEARS IMPRISONMENT FOR MAINTENANCE DEFAULTER In a case that shows how serious the courts deal with maintenance defaulters, Excelsior Magistrates’ court sentenced Jacobus Kai to two years direct imprisonment after he failed to comply with the maintenance order. His maintenance arears amounted to R74 600. The complainant lodged a complaint in terms of Section 31 of the Maintenance Act 99 of 1998 but Kai failed to comply with the order against him.

The complainant further lodged a complaint against Kai in terms of Section 39 of the act after he failed to give notice to the court that he changed his residential address. Neither the complainant nor the

authorities knew his home and work address. The prosecution and the SAPS in the Western Cape worked closely to trace Kai and he was arrested and brought to Excelsior.

He brought a schedule five bail application, which was refused, because he had a previous conviction for contravention of section 31 of the Maintenance Act, which is a schedule one offence. Kai was convicted of contravening Section 31 and 39 of the Maintenance Act and handed a two-year term of imprisonment. The case was prosecuted by adv. Ernst van Rensburg.

Adv Ernst van RensburgLecwidi

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COMMUNITY PROSECUTION HOLDS DRUG AWARENESS DAY The NPA organised a drug awareness day that was held at Sasolburg Mall on Saturday, 23 October 2022. The event was spearheaded by Rantia van der Merwe, the senior prosecutor in charge of community prosecution.The purpose of the event was to educate families of rehabilitated drug addicts on how to treat them. This was because the families would treat the rehabilitated addicts in a negative way and this will result in the addicts relapsing.

The programme started with a welcoming speech by SPP, Rantia van der Merwe.

Mafusi Lekeka, Metsomaholo TCC Case Manager explained the role of TCC and the services they render. Court Preparation Officer, Thembi Mabasa to the attendants through the court preparation programme.

Other NPA speakers were district court prosecutors, Lerato Moletsane and Hadifele Khiba who talked about maintenance and alternative dispute resolutions respectively.

Other speakers who addressed the public included Vivian van der Walt from Child Welfare, Nthabiseng Ndumiso from Sasolburg Counselling Centre, Joana Mabaso from Freedom Recovery Centre and Magrieta Botha from SANCA. Two rehabilitated drug addicts made speeches on how they won the fight against drugs.

They informed the attendants that they have not used any drug for five years and nine months respectively.

FACEBOOK RAPIST SENTENCED TO LIFE IMPRISONMENT The man dubbed as the “Facebook rapist” was slapped with life imprisonment by the Free State High Court after luring 15 women with promises of jobs or modelling contracts and pretending to be a successful businessman, but instead raped them.

Mokena Nhlapo posed as a successful businessman on Facebook since 2015 and his modus operandi was to lure his victims through the social media platform, with the promise of employment or a modelling contract but instead raped them.

He was facing over 70 charges that included rape, assault and kidnapping but was convicted only on 17 charges.

He pretended to be a doctor to some of his victims, to others, he was a

representative from the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) and he was looking for models who would be the face of the political party’s campaign. Nhlapo’s victims were aged between 20 and 22 years old and were raped at different places after he had conducted fake interviews with them. Most of his victims were from Lesotho.

Adv Rudolph Hoffman

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TOP STORY

AFU SAVES LESOTHO GOVERNMENT MILLIONS IN MULTI-MILLION FRAUD SCHEME In a case of a good example of international cooperation in criminal matters between different organs of state, Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), Hawks, Financial Intelligence Centre together with Lesotho Asset Forfeiture Unit and Lesotho Mounted Police worked together to save Lesotho Government approximately R25 million that was held in FNB, Capitec, Absa and Standard Bank accounts in South Africa. AFU investigator Oddie

Mradla, was involved in the investigation of R31 million that was transferred to the bank accounts and found out that at least R25 million was still available to be preserved.

Advocate Bishum Somaru launched an application in the Free State High Court, on behalf of the AFU, to freeze the bank accounts after Lesotho AFU and Mounted Police requested assistance when they realised that fraud and money laundering was committed in Lesotho Treasury and large sums of money have been transferred to the South African banks and this has prejudiced the government to almost R50 million.

AFU made urgent preservation applications that were successful and the forfeiture applications was set down for March. Fictitious companies were registered with CIPC in South Africa and fraudulent payments were made into those accounts including accounts of two attorneys. Some of the proceeds were allegedly used to buy high value vehicles in South Africa and they were subsequently exported to Lesotho.

DNDPP ADV ANTON DU PLESSIS VISITS BLOEMFONTEIN The Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions (DNDPP), Advocate Anton du Plessis visited the Office of the DPP in the Free State to have an engagement with the staff on challenges that have an impact on their work. Advocate Du Plessis was accompanied by Mr Andre Malan, Ms Salome Baloyi and Ms Licky Dludlu.

The visit created a platform for officials to engage Du Plessis on challenges

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that make it difficult for them to perform their duties. Issues that were raised by the staff include lack of parking space, office space, decentralisation of the recruitment process and security. The most concerning issue to the staff was lack of parking space because officials park their cars in the street and this poses security risk in that they have to walk to the court buildings.

Du Plessis lamented the gap he sees between the prosecutors and the support

staff as well as the gap between national office and the regional offices. He said it is important that these gaps are closed for NPA officials to work better for the people of South Africa.

DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

TOP STORY

LIFE IMPRISONMENT FOR KILLING AN ELDERLY COUPLE The High Court of South Africa: Free State Division sentenced Johannes Sekgoro (41), Thami Terrence Kat (35), Leepile Daniel Sidasi (44) and Daniel Tsekiso Seloane (25) to an effective life imprisonment each after they were found guilty of murder of Jakobus van den Berg (77) and his wife Ockerlina van Den Berg (72).

Jacobus Oosthuizen and Pieter Bosman went to the couple’s residence when they could not get hold of them and found them lying in a pool of blood, with their hands tied to their backs. The police recovered Jakobus’ bakkie in the Caledon river. Palm prints lifted from the steering wheel of the bakkie linked Sekgoro and the police found

all of them in possession of items stolen from the deceased.

Advocate Allen Simpson requested the court to impose the minimum sentence as prescribed by law because they failed to advance any substantial and compelling circumstances for imposition of lesser sentences. Judge Celeste Reinders sentenced all the accused to two life terms for two counts of murder. Sekgoro, Sidasi and Seloane were sentenced to an additional 15 years imprisonment for robbery whereas Kat was handed a sentence of 20 years for robbery because he has a previous conviction. All sentences will run concurrently.

NPA AND SAPS HOLD SEXUAL OFFFENCES TRAINING

Provincial GBVF Task team made up of officials from the NPA and South African Police Services The Provincial GBVF Task team made up of officials from the NPA and South African Police Services organised a sexual offences training that was held at Bon Hotel in November 2021. The training that was held over two days and attended by about 100 officials, covered topics such as social context and sexual offences.

Advocate Joyce Mokoena explained the purpose of the training which was to foster good working relations between all the stakeholders in order to ensure that

all the parties understand the role of each department for the benefit of the public.

Advocate Mafusi Maphepha-Lekeka said that investigators and prosecutors must show care and compassion to the victims of crime because that will determine whether victims come forward to report cases or not. She said failure to show interst and empathy will discourage victims to come forward and this will in turn give perpetrators power because they will not be punished for their actions.

DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

The training targeted mostly the newly appointed regional court prosecutors, police officers working in the Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences (FSC) Unit and general detectives.

Facilitators for training include advocates Mafusi Maphepha-Lekeka (Case Manager – Metsimaholo TCC), Michel Nel (Tshepong TCC) and senior prosecutor Nqenelwa Mazwi.

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16 DAYS OF ACTIVISM ACTIVITIES The NPA took part in 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children that is held annually between 25 November and 10 December. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the negative impact that violence and abuse have on women and children and to rid society of abuse.

The NPA took part in several events that were held across the province with the aim of educating the general public of the role of the organisation in fighting abused against women and children. The events were held in different towns such as Thaba Nchu, Odendaalsrus, Frankfort, Sasolburg, Welkom and Zamdela Township.

The main event took place at Harry Gwala Multi-Purpose Centre in Zamdela,

Sasolburg on 09 December 2021. The event was organised by the Office of the Premier in partnership with Government Communication and Information System (GCIS).

It was attended by the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Pinky Kekana and the MEC of education in the Free State, Tate Makgoe. The visit by the Deputy Minister was to lead activities of government in the fight against Gender-Based Violence under the banner of District Development Model and Gender-Based Violence and Femicide during the national period of the “16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children” that was held over two days.

Deputy Minister Pinky Kekana addressing the public at 16 Days event in Sasolburg

SAY NO TO WOMAN & CHILD ABUSE motivational corner

the power of choice Choice is the fundamental power of human experience. Choice is “c” between “b” and “d”. “B” is birth and “d” is death.

We cannot control birth and death, but we can control our choices. We need to put choice as authority. If I ran the world I would make the power of choice as part of every school curriculum. Everyone must learn that the power of choice you make has infinite consequences, from little choice to something that is big.

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(send by Adv. Silas Chalale) We are used to saying that the big choice is the obvious one. Buying a house, a car or getting married. The choices that matter when it comes to health, positioning and empowering yourself are less important for you. You think they are tiny, because you make the choices in the privacy and comfort of your own space. That is why you think they are most insignificant. They are actually the most powerful choices of your life. They have the most impact on

your inner spirit, soul, sense of who you are and your whole life map.

Choices are the most powerful in our lives.

That is why we are terrified to make them, terrified at the consequences and being responsible for the consequences. The mind gets the day shift. The heart, the night shift and the two talk to each other.

DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

PROMOTIONS AND NEW APPOINTMENTS

Frans Motlhamme: Appointed Deputy Director: Court Preparation

Bulelani Mothabeng: Appointed Court Preparation Officer

Adv.Thato Ntimutse: Promoted to Regional Head - AFU

Adv Yvonne Phori: Appointed Senior State Advocate – Tax Unit

Adv Ena Liebenberg: Promoted to Senior State Advocate

Adv Mbokazi Radebe: Appointed State Advocate – Tax Unit

Adv Keneilwe Tshitwe: Promoted Senior Advocate – SCCU

Tlhabaki Manyane: Appointed Human Resources clerk

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STAFF GALLERY

Sasolburg prosecutors attending drug awareness day

NPA officials and Brigadier Lekhele at Sexual Offences training held in Bloemfontein

NPA officials listening to Adv Anton Du Plessis during his visit in Bloemfontein

Stakeholders attending awareness campaign at Botshabelo Mall

Stakeholders attending 16 Days of Activism event in Hani Park, Welkom

NPA stall at 16 Days of Activism event at Harry Gwala Multi-Purpose Centre in Zamdela, Sasolburg

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DPP FREE STATE NEWSLETTER

STAFF GALLERY

Stakeholders attending NPA/Safer South Africa Foundation school project at Rheederpark High School in Welkom

NPA official listening to Adv. Du Plessis

Bloemfontein aspirant prosecutors with their tutors, Liza-Marie Botha and Claudia Matlhoko

Welkom aspirant prosecutors with their tutor, Anna Mokgoetsi

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