Sam ‘Mshengu’ Chabalala ‘bribery’ case postponed

The case against businessman Sam “Mshengu” Chabalala, who was arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe his way out of legal trouble, has been postponed to December 3.

Mshengu, his clan name and as he is popularly known, appeared in the Witbank Magistrate’s Court on Friday where the magistrate reportedly postponed the matter to allow further investigations.

The businessman was arrested in September and faces charges of alleged bribery, corruption, possession of an unlicensed firearm and fraud in terms of contravening the Immigration Act.

He was arrested at a restaurant at Emalahleni’s Highveld Mall after an alleged attempt to pay home affairs officials R40,000 “to destroy reports of a fraudulently obtained South African identity document against him”, said the Hawks.

The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crimes Investigation unit swooped on him shortly afterwards and found an unlicensed firearm in his vehicle, a green Mercedes-Benz, one of many luxury cars he owns.

An investigation of Chabalala’s citizenship status had earlier been initiated by the department of home affairs, with reports suggesting he is actually from Zimbabwe and may have allegedly obtained his South African citizenship illegally. The Hawks, however, are apparently still trying to ascertain where he really comes from.

Most South Africans had never heard of the young millionaire until he became the face of a flashy convoy of supercars that travelled to the Durban July this year.

The businessman was granted R200,000 bail by the Witbank Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga after he was arrested and charged.

The magistrate, Mdumiseni Mavuso said Chabalala was not a flight risk, due to his strong ties in South Africa. He got married over the weekend.

(Compiled by Gopolang Moloko, backround reporting by Charles Cilliers)

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