Former state employee found guilty of accepting bribe from Digital Vibes

The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court postponed the corruption case of a government official on Friday to June 6 for sentencing proceedings.

Former Senior Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (Misa) official, Lizeka Tonjeni (49), was found guilty of corruption relating to the Digital Vibes contract.

Misa is accountable to the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs.

Tonjeni was found guilty of accepting a R160 000 bribe while she was the project manager of a Digital Vibes contract.

The crime occurred in 2018 when Misa appointed her to manage a contract worth almost R4m, awarded to Digital Vibes.

“In 2018, Misa awarded a tender to Digital Vibes to render communication services for 24 months. Tonjeni was nominated as a project manager responsible for the appointment and management of the service provider, and to whom all communication had to be addressed,” says National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.

Mahanjana says from December 2018 to August 2020, Tonjeni received unauthorised payments of R160 000 due to her from Digital Vibes.

Tonjeni was arrested after she handed herself over at the Pretoria Central Police Station on May 24, following investigations by the Hawks.

“She was released on R5 000 bail, with conditions that she should hand in her passport to the clerk of the court and should not apply for a new passport. Furthermore, she should not travel outside Gauteng unless she applies with the investigating officer,” says Mahanjana.

On Friday, Tonjeni pleaded not guilty to the charges in court and denied that she had fraudulently received payments from Digital Vibes.

“In her testimony, she said the payments received from the director of Digital Vibes were for weight loss and energy booster products she was selling. She still owes the director of Digital Vibes,” Mahanjana says.

She adds that Tonjeni said she still owes R85 000 because she could not deliver some of the products and pay back her money.

“However, a team of prosecutors, advocates Willem van Zyl and Phuma Dwane, called witnesses who are Misa employees to testify and adduced evidence to prove that indeed Tonjeni was guilty of the charges preferred against her.”

During the judgment, Magistrate Nicola Setshoge found the evidence of Tonjeni not to be reasonably true and dishonest.

Mahanjana says therefore Setshoge found that the state could prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

After the judgment, Tonjeni brought an application to have her bail extended.

Mahanjana says the state opposed the application because Tonjeni failed to comply with her bail conditions.

“She travelled and moved to the Eastern Cape without notifying the investigating officer and applied for a new passport, while her bail conditions prohibited her from doing so.

“During the bail hearing, advocate Willem van Zyl argued that Tonjeni was a flight risk, as she applied for a passport 17 days before her possible conviction.”

Mahanjana says the magistrate found that Tonjeni undermined the justice and bail systems.

“The scenario gives a likelihood that Tonjeni will flee whenever she wants, therefore the application was dismissed. The matter was postponed to June 6 for sentencing proceedings,” she says.