Alberton Traffic Department employee found guilty of fraud
A man was sentenced a week after being taken into custody after investigation by the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation Unit.
Alberton Traffic Department employee 44-year-old Petros Vusumuzi Mahlaba was last week convicted and sentenced on fraud-related charges.
He appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court and sentenced for transgressing the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996.
Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation agents took Mahlaba into custody on June 14. The arrest was the result of an inquiry that started when Bidvest Protea Coin security officers cornered members of a cartel that tampered with vital infrastructure.
In October 2023, the syndicate members were apprehended while removing fuel from a Transnet pipeline at Klipfontein Farm in Nigel. The truck used by the gang was seized and the Hawks were notified of the situation.
Hawks provincial spokesperson Thatohatsi Mavimbela said following an investigation, the team discovered the owner of the trailer vehicle and horse used in the crime was a resident of Newcastle.
Additionally, they discovered the syndicate secretly altered the truck’s registration number from a Mpumalanga to Gauteng licence plate.
“Further probes by the dedicated investigator, with help from the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Licensing Evaluation and Monitoring Unit, found Mahlaba implemented and authorised the transaction.
“He changed the registration number of the truck by forging signatures and using a copy of the owner’s identity document on October 10, 2023,” said Mavimbela.
On June 18, Mahlaba appeared in the court for the first time. He pleaded guilty last Wednesday, and was sentenced to R3 000 or 60 days of imprisonment.
He was also declared unfit to possess a firearm in terms of Section 103 (2) of the Firearms Control Act 60 of 2000.
