North West man sentenced to six years in jail for defrauding municipality of over R1M

A 47-year-old man has been sentenced to six years in jail for defrauding the Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality in the North West province of over R1million.

Kealeboga Coldridge Mongae appeared in the Zeerust Regional Court on Monday.

His conviction emanates from an incident on 16 May 2012, after he collected two cheques from the municipality for a service he did not render.

Mongae was a liaison officer at the time between the Municipality, Born Free Investments (Pty) LTD, Lesedisedi and Lebogangkatlego Joint Venture and private companies who were contracted by the municipality to render a service.

The convicted fraudster pretended to collect the cheques on behalf of the two companies and cashed the money for his private use.

The National Prosecution Authority’s (NPA) Henry Mamothame said before being summoned to appear in court on 29 April 2021, the municipality had to pay the same amount to the service providers he defrauded.

“The municipality requested that he reimburse the money that he defrauded, but he failed to honour his commitment to repay. The court granted him R20 000 bail before the commencement of the trial.”

In aggravation of sentence, Advocate Siphiwo Jika argued that fraud is a serious criminal offence that often leads to community unrest due to a lack of service delivery.

Jika argued that municipalities and government departments often carry the blame for lack of services delivery while the real culprits of such are ordinary members of the community who are defrauding the state.

Mamothame said in passing sentence, Magistrate James Mothibi alluded to the rifeness of fraud in the country.

“He found that a wholly suspended sentence to give him a further chance to repay the money after he failed to do so in nine years, will not send a clear message to communities that courts take the commissioning of fraud seriously.”

The Director of Public Prosecutions in the North West, Dr Rachel Makhari-Sekhaolelo lauded the corroborated effort by the police and the prosecution that led to a conviction.

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