Times Live has reported that two court officials from the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court are facing 265 fraud charges after being nabbed on 21 November.
The publication said that for two years, Jacob Mateke and Thabisile Mabaso had allegedly siphoned R1.4 million from the court. Mateke and Mabaso are both cash hall supervisors at the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court.
On 24 November, the pair found themselves on the other side of the law when they appeared in the dock at the Alexandra Regional Court. The duo was arrested at the court, where they were tasked with capturing third party funds, including maintenance and bail payments to the court.
They both started working at the court in 2004. The money they allegedly stole did not belong to the court, but to maintenance beneficiaries, those due to be reimbursed bail and other third party payments.
Time Live said according to the charge sheet, Mateke (47) and Mabaso (42) who both acted with a common purpose, conned the court out of R1 442 740 between 2010 and 2012. Their modus operandi, according to the state, is that when members of the public paid money to the court, the two captured a lesser amount on the Justice Deposit Account System or, in some cases, they did not capture the transaction at all.
The two were suspended a month ago and their arrest, after handing themselves over by agreement, follows a five-month long investigation by a task team set up by the Justice Department.
Mateke and Mabaso were each granted R5 000 bail during their brief court appearance. They are set to return to court in December, where the matter is expected to be transferred to another court.
