Musician Arthur Mafokate fails to halt SIU seizure of luxury guesthouse

Musician and producer Arthur Mafokate has been dealt a blow after Pretoria High Court on Tuesday dismissed his application to have his luxurious guesthouse in Midrand released from a preservation order.

Judge Mandlenkosi Motha ruled that Mafokate’s application failed to explain where he had procured the money to purchase the glamorous property.

The Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) obtained an order on 21 December 2022 to preserve Property 85 Carslwald Road, Midrand belonging to Mafokate.

Investigations

This followed investigations conducted by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) into the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) which revealed that the South African Arts and Development Organisation (SAADA) was granted R9.3 million to assist unemployed youth in the poor and rural areas of the country, to impact skills in music, business video, film production dance and overall business of radio.

Instead, SAADA only used R1.8 million of those funds on the project, and used the remaining funds of R7.5 million to purchase a guesthouse known as La villa Rosa in Midrand.

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National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said during court proceedings, Mafokate argued that he was entitled to the R7.5 million as his businesses delivered the services as required by the NLC and that he had committed no offences.

“However, the NPA argued that although some kind of services were rendered, it was at most R1.8 million. The remainder of the funds was used to purchase the guesthouse, which was not the purpose of the grant allocation. The funds used to purchase the guesthouse was thus stolen from the NLC as it was not used for the allocated project.”

Affording the property

The court agreed with the NPA that  it was against the terms and conditions of the grant for SAADA to carry over its obligations to any other organisation, and that the development organisation should have also returned any unused funds to the NLC.

It also found that Mafokate could give no reasonable explanation on how he could afford to purchase the guesthouse if it was not for NLC funds, particularly as his business accounts contained negligible balances when the grant was received from the NLC.

Therefore, the court dismissed, Mafokate’s application to have the guesthouse released from the preservation order with costs.

In 2022, the Kwaito legend and others were implicated in the misappropriation of R56 million in community development funds from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).

Fighting corruption

Mahanjana said the Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, was grateful for the investigation conducted by the SIU on this matter,

“He said it illustrates the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies working together to eradicate corruption. He also welcomes the judgment as it demonstrates the NPA’s continuous fight against corruption at the highest level.

“This judgment paves the way for the AFU to enrol the matter for the final forfeiture of the guesthouse and all the other luxury properties worth millions of Rand purchased with stolen NLC funds. Should the forfeiture application be successful, the guesthouse will be sold at a public auction and the proceeds returned to the NLC,” Mahanjana said.

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