Wanted Colonel in prison
Col Nceba Bobelo is reported to be in the custody of correctional services.
NELSPRUIT – The army colonel who was convicted of armed robbery in 1995 is in prison.
Col Sibongile Soci, spokesman for the police in the Eastern Cape, confirmed on Wednesday that Col Nceba Bobelo was in the custody of correctional services. She said she did not know in exactly which facility he was being held.
Brig Gen Xolani Mabanga, spokesman for South African National Defence Force (SANDF), confirmed on Wednesday that Bobelo was arrested after he reported to the joint operations national headquarters in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The police in Nelspruit had been looking for him after the NPA issued a warrant for his arrest last week.
Mabanga said that Bobelo, commander of the army’s joint tactical headquarters in Mpumalanga, was handed over to the military police after he reported to the base. He was then handed over to the SAPS and correctional services. The latter claimed he should be in their custody in the Eastern Cape, according to the spokesman.
Bobelo’s appeal against his 12-year sentence, of which three had been suspended, failed in 2001 when he was supposed to start serving time in the Eastern Cape.
Bobelo had not been put on special leave nor had he taken leave, but his whereabouts was unknown to his employers. Mabanga said that he could not confirm for how many days Bobelo had been absent from work or if he had been asked to report on where he had been for the past week.
Mabangu explained that according to law, Bobelo should be discharged from the army due to his criminal conviction, but administrative matters had to be resolved first. He said that he could not confirm whether the colonel had submitted a letter of resignation or it if had been accepted.
At the time of going to print, Mr Steve Mahlangu, spokesman for the department of justice, had still not commented on why Bobelo managed to evade imprisonment, who had been tasked with the responsibility of ensuring he serve his sentence, and where the chain of command broke down to allow a convicted criminal to remain a free man.
