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By Sisonke Mlamla 
2h ago
Cape Town – An arrest warrant was issued for former Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Mongameli Bobani on the day of his funeral.
The Hawks confirmed that Bobani was one of nine suspects charged with fraud and money laundering that exceeded 56 million rand.
According to Hawks spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase, on the day of his funeral an arrest warrant was issued for Bobani. Her co-defendant appeared briefly in Port Elizabeth Magistrates Court on Friday morning as Bobani’s funeral was held at the Feather Market Center.
Nkwalase said all the suspects were released on a collective bond set at R255,000, with individual bond ranging from R5,000 to R100,000.
It said suspects Zandisile Qupe, 49, Thando Ngcolomba, 60, and Bobani (deceased) were community office holders, who exercised their alleged influence within the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Municipality to control decision-making in procurement processes.
” Mhleleli Mlungisi Tshamase, 54, Walter Shaidi, 65, and Nadia Gerwel, 55, were municipal officials who allegedly ensured which service providers were chosen, which included the irregular appointment of Fareed Fakir, 51, Heerkos Projects CC, Jarami CC , Erastyle, Davit le Roux, 45, and Le Roux Inc., Rukaard Abrahams, 30. ”
The case against the nine suspects and six legal persons (entities) was postponed until March 12, 2021 for the matter to be taken to the higher court.
Bobani, who was described as a dedicated servant, was buried in physical education. He died last Wednesday after being hospitalized for three weeks after testing positive for Covid-19.
He was removed from office as mayor of the NMB in December 2019 via a vote of no confidence, after being accused of corruption and mismanagement.
The arrest of the nine comes after the municipality was among those selected for a fast bus system in 2010. The Integrated Public Transportation System project was administered with funds allocated by the National Treasury.
In the same year, another project was undertaken to implement and maintain an Institutional Contract Management and Administration System (ICMAS).
Nkwalase alleged that the service providers chosen in those two projects were allegedly irregular and their prices allegedly inflated, and said the matter was reported to the Hawks for their investigation in September 2018, following a National Treasury audit report between October. 2014 and March 2017.
“It is alleged that the suspects operated a union with the common purpose of illegally circumventing prescribed procurement processes to irregularly and fraudulently benefit specific suppliers or consultants,” it said.
Nkwalase said it was further alleged that influential officials colluded with municipal officials and controlled decision-making in the appointment of specific people to critical municipal positions. This was supposedly done to influence the procurement processes, as well as the appointments of entities willing to advance the interests of the union.
He said the alleged aim was to ensure a steady stream of illegal payments from the municipality to union members, where the funds were distributed to other union members.
The arrest formed the second stage of an investigation, the first one conducted in April 2017, where six suspects were arrested, including two company directors, an entity, a municipal official and a person from the Eastern Cape Province Rugby Union. .
Cape Argus
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