Two former employees accused in the Department of Labour fraud matter ‘stage a no show’ in Court
The two former employees of the Department of Labour’s (DoL) Compensation Fund (CF) alleged to have defrauded the department failed to show up in Court today (January 16), and will be served with a warrant of arrest.
Maxwell Ramaphosa and Samuel Mfeleng - both from Soshanguve in Pretoria are alleged to have defrauded the Department of Labour’s Compensation Fund of R2, 1 million. The duo faces 15 counts of fraud and 26 counts of money laundering.
Magistrate Fikile Ntlati told the Court that in the absence of a clear explanation from legal representatives on the whereabouts of the two accused (Ramaphosa and Mfeleng), “the State is left with no option, but to issue out the accused with a warrant of arrest”.
The two former civil servants have pleaded not guilty and are out on a bail of R 3000. Lawyers representing the accused said they have been ‘frantically’ trying before the Court appearance to get hold of their clients to no avail. The lawyers said the phones of Ramaphosa and Mfeleng were left unanswered.
Ramaphosa and Mfeleng were arrested in 2009 together with self-confessed fraud physio Jurry Bonewamang Sehunoe. Their matter was taken in 2010 to the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crime Court, wherein Sehunoe pleaded guilty to defrauding the department and was subsequently handed a five-year suspended sentence.
The matter of Ramaphosa and Mfeleng was transferred in a separation of trial to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court. Ramaphosa and Mfeleng are alleged to have been part of a syndicate working in collaboration with convicted fraud physio Sehunoe, from Rustenburg in North West to siphon the department’s Compensation Fund.
The two (Ramaphosa and Mfeleng) are also ensnared in two other separate fraud cases that are before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court for allegedly defrauding the Department of Labour.
In one case Ramaphosa and Mfeleng are part of a group of six former employees of the Department of Labour accused of defrauding the DoL’s Compensation Fund of about R1-million.
In the other case they are part of a group of three former employees and Dr Jones Mothemola Modau, a physiotherapist based in Rustenburg who has since confessed to defrauding the department of R476 150,58. Modau has subsequently been handed a five-year suspended sentence.
The Compensation Fund is a public entity of the Department of Labour. The fund provides cushion for workers injured during work or diseases sustained thereof.
Enquiries:
Page Boikanyo
Departmental Spokesman
Cell: 082 809 3195
