Dr Tumi and wife cleared on fraud charges

Doctor and gospel singer Tumisang Makweya (popularly known as Dr Tumi) and his wife, Kgaogelo Makweya, have been cleared of the fraud charges they were facing. 

Sowetan reports that the charges were withdrawn on Thursday after recent proceedings at the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in the Palm Ridge magistrate’s court.

This after Dr Tumi and Kgaogelo submitted representations to the state on why they should not be prosecuted for allegedly defrauding the National Lotteries Commission of more than R1.5m.

However, the publication further reports that Gauteng Hawks’ provincial spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu said she could not immediately confirm the withdrawal of charges against the couple.

In a statement issued to The Citizen, Phindi Louw Mjonondwane of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that charges against the pair were dropped.

“There were [six] accused. Charges were only withdrawn against Dr Tumi and his wife (Accused 3 and 4) based on the outcome of successful representations.”

“Dr Tumi and his wife made representations to the NPA relating to the charges preferred against them. We duly considered their representations and they were successful. There were no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution against them and therefore accordingly directed that the charges levelled against them be withdrawn,” she added.

The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Johannesburg arrested the couple back in April and they were later released on bail of R3,000 each and their two co-accused of R5,000 each.

According to Mulamu, the suspects were allegedly listed as committee members at a non-profit organisation, and allegedly submitted altered grant application documents to the National Lotteries Board for approval of funds on projects in 2018.

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“Further investigation revealed that the couple together with their co-accused… Chistopher Tshivule, 46, and Thomas Ndadza, 48, allegedly altered information on the documents submitted to the National Lotteries in September 2018, which resulted to the amount of over R1.5 million being transferred into a private bank account,” Mulamu said.

“The couple allegedly benefitted approximately R760,000 from the funds. They handed themselves in at the Johannesburg office escorted by their attorney and were subsequently charged for fraud.”

In a statement shared on social media, Dr Tumi stated that he was relieved by the outcome of the case.

“The past few months took a toll on us because the matter was sub judice and we couldn’t comment on it. We maintained our innocence because we did nothing wrong. Handing ourselves over to the authorities was not an admission of guilt, but was out of respect for law enforcement agencies and to allow justice to take its course,” he wrote. 

“This morning we are vindicated, justice has been served, we have no case to answer to. We are thankful for the support and love from our family, friends, colleagues and the public at this time. We are turning back to life and pursuing our passions and look forward to putting this episode behind us.”

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Additional reporting by Vhahangwele Nemakonde and Narissa Subramoney