City of Joburg employees accused of collecting R24 000 from a resident appear in court
JOHANNESBURG – Two employees of the City of Johannesburg appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court on charges of corruption and theft.
The two employees, aged 35 and 43 years old respectively (names not mentioned), appeared in court today, 20 March. The suspects are accused of collecting a total of R24 000 from a resident of Cleveland between October 2018 and January 2019.
In a statement released by the office of the Executive Mayor, Herman Mashaba said that the second suspect acted as the first suspect’s manager and promised to override the system in order to clear the complainant’s account who accordingly paid R4 000 to the suspects in October.
However once the complainant realised there was no positive resolution with regards to his account on the system, he began making enquiries to the suspect via WhatsApp and was told that he would be fully refunded.
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) March 19, 2019
The City of Joburg’s Group Forensics and Investigations Service (GFIS) conducted an investigation based on the information provided to the investigation team. This was after the complainant was referred to the GFIS when he realised that he might not get a refund.
One suspect was arrested at his office while on duty and detained at Cleveland SAPS ahead of his court appearance. The other suspect voluntarily handed himself over on Monday, 18 March 2019 at Cleveland SAPS.
— Herman Mashaba (@HermanMashaba) March 19, 2019
The Cleveland Police Station’s Warrant Officer, Phineaus Makola said, “I did see the suspects but no one is detained here at the moment. I did see the JMPD van but no one was kept here.”
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