A physiotherapist appearing in a case of alleged fraud together with three former employees of the Department of Labour’s (DoL) Compensation Fund (CF) ‘lost’ his mind on the eve of tendering a guilty plea in the Pretoria Specialised Crime Court today, 2 March.
Physiotherapist Jones Mothemola Modau (31) from Rustenburg is appearing together with former civil servants Maxwell Ramaphosa, Samuel Mfeleng and Kgabo Methi. The four defendants are all out on a warning. The accused face three counts of fraud and 14 counts of money laundering involving about R500 000.
Keitumetsi Mogale, an advocate acting on behalf of Modau told the Court that her client was today ready to tender a guilty plea, but due to his state of mind, she was asking for a remand to a later date.
“Unfornately, this morning I noticed in my interaction with my client that he was not in his mind,” Mogale said Modau was in February hospitalised following a form of phosphate poisoning and was detained in hospital for two weeks.
She told the Court that her client was on medication, which she suspects may be the reason he seemed to lose his mind.
“While going through a plea explanation I realised that he was missing out on certain aspects of the case,” she said. Mogale said Modau seemed to forget, as she had to repeatedly explain certain aspects contained in the plea document.
The Advocate told the Court that she also sought urgent medical advice and it was for this reason she was asking the court for a remand. Mogale said she was confident her client would ‘return to his mind once he completes his medication by next week’. She also told the Court that she had advised her client to see a psychologist next week.
Magistrate Dawie Jacobs obliged and postponed the matter to March 19, 2012.
Jacobs said because the accused seemed to suffer from ‘short term memory lapse’ due to the medicine he was using, Modau would not follow the proceedings and deserved a fair trial.
However, Jacobs asked if the accused was not in his ‘mind’, was he going to be able to understand the remand and bail conditions he was about to explain to him.
Modau’s responded by saying that he was going to note what the Magistrate said and hoped he would not forget.
The State and the legal representative of the other three accused told the Court that they were ready to proceed with the case.
D. du Plessis, who represents Methi told the Court he was today ready and eager to go on.
Magistrate Jacobs concluded that despite du Plessis’ eagerness it was advisable to proceed once Modau was “in his full, sound and sober senses” as part of ensuring a fair trial. He said because of Modau’s problem with short-term memory due to medication he was taking he would not be able to follow the proceedings.
He said with the latest developments “in all probality, there will have to be a separation of trail for accused four (Modau) to tender a plea”, he said accused one to three will have to be tried separately.
The Compensation Fund is a public entity of the Department of Labour. The Fund covers workers injured or disabled at work or diseases sustained from the hazardous work environment.
Enquiries:
Page Boikanyo
Cell: 082 809 3195
E-mail: Page.boikanyo@labour.gov.za
