Digital Vibes: Lizeka Tonjeni sentenced to five years for R160 000 payment

A former project manager at the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (Misa) has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Lizeka Tonjeni was found guilty of unduly receiving a payment of R160 000 from Digital Vibes following a R4 million tender.

The 49-year-old was found guilty in May and faced her sentencing in the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday.

Investigated by Hawks

Misa is an office under the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). 

A 24-month, R4 million Misa tender to provide communications services was awarded to Digital Vibes in 2018.

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After being appointed contract manager of the Digital Vibes account, Tonjeni accepted payments that she testified were for weight loss and energy booster products she was selling.

A Hawks investigation found the payments to be corrupt in nature and Tonjeni arrested in May 2022, handing herself in at the Pretoria Central police station.

MISA employees testified that the payments, made by Digital Vibes counterpart Tahera Mather, were of a corrupt nature, leading to a guilty verdict.

Mother pleads for leniency

During her trial, it was noted that Tonjeni violated her bail conditions by moving provinces and applying for a new passport weeks before her conviction.

In arguing for a stiff sentence, the state said that corruption with government departments had become endemic and that Tonjeni used her position to feed her greed.

However, Tonjeni has a young child, which she attempted to leverage for a lenient sentence.

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During the sentencing proceedings, Tonjeni asked the court to impose a non-custodial sentence of correctional supervision because she has a minor child to take care of,” confirmed NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.

The state countered by saying that having a child was not a “get out of jail free card” and that it would send the wrong message to society.

Sentencing

The magistrate agreed with the state that corruption was rife within government and that Tonjeni’s actions were not worthy of leniency.

“The NPA welcomes the sentence and wants to send a strong message that corrupt officials know that impunity is no longer a given and that dreaded knock on the door has become a realistic prospect,” Mahanjana concluded.