Eldorado Park substation fraud accused to stay behind bars

The Setheo Engineering project manager who was last week arrested on charges of tender fraud and corruption, will be spending at least a few more nights behind bars.

Brighton Chifamba made a brief appearance before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, in Palm Ridge,  on Monday, when he was expected to apply for bail. His application was, however, postponed to later in the week, after the defence requested more time to prepare.

The state is expected to oppose Chifamba’s release on bail.

In addition to the fraud and corruption charges, 49-year-old Chifamba is also facing charges of money laundering and theft. The case against him relates to a R126 million contract Setheo scored from City Power back in 2015 to build a new substation in Eldorado Park.

The state alleges that upfront payments of R66 million were made, without any supplies having been delivered or any work  having been done.

The two City Power officials who allegedly pushed the invoices through, have since been dismissed. The contract between the utility and Setheo has also since been cancelled and City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said last week that his offices were busy “considering a process” to finalise the Eldorado Park substation project.

In the meantime, though, Tinashe Mangwana – one of the directors at Setheo – has vehemently denied any  wrongdoing on the firm’s behalf.

Mangwana was himself arrested – along with co-director Namathemba Precious Ncube – back in 2017.

The case against them has, however, since been withdrawn.

Previously, Chifamba has admitted Setheo received R66 million from City Power but described this as “milestone payments for works done and equipment purchased”. He has denied claims that no work had been done on the project, saying this could not be “further from the truth”.

Mangwana last week stuck to this line, claiming Setheo had in fact procured more than R40 million’s worth of  equipment for the project and that this was still on site.

He said the firm was currently embroiled in litigation with City Power over various non-payment issues.

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