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By Jolene Marriah-Maharaj 
11h ago
Durban – The Hawks have confirmed that four more people have appeared in court for bid fraud worth 24 million rand at the Prime Minister’s Office in KwaZulu-Natal, bringing the total to 9.
KwaZulu-Natal Hawks spokesperson Simphiwe Mhlongo said a supply chain manager and three service providers were charged with fraud and corruption at the Commercial Crimes Court in Durban on Thursday morning and released. on bail.
NPA spokeswoman Natasha Ramkisson -Kara said the four defendants are: Pamela Hlongwa, Head of Supply Chain Management in the Premier’s Office at KZN, Ashley Rose, Ntombimpela Mabel Majozi and Sybil Mataung.
Hlongwa was released on bail of 5000 rand; Rose and Mataung on bail of R100 and Majozi with R20,000.
The five officials who were charged in July also appeared in court on Friday.
At the time of Mhlongo’s arrest, it was alleged that officials in the prime minister’s office colluded with service providers to secure catering tenders by ignoring all supply chain procedures. He also said officials allegedly received rewards for their efforts.
Mhlongi said these allegations were reported to the Durban Serious Corruption Investigation, which underwent a prosecution-led investigation that led to the arrest of the four officials and one service provider.
The five defendants arrested in July were Gugu Kheswa, owner of Phumalanga Communications who is out on bail of 20,000 rand.
Ziphathie Mboneni Cibane, Chief Financial Officer of the Prime Minister’s Office, is out on bail of R10,000.
The other three, Nomusa Zakwe, Thobelani Makhathini and Sithembiso Msomi, are released on bail of R5,000.
Zakwe is a personal assistant to a senior manager in the Prime Minister’s Office. Makhathini and Msomi work as secretaries in the same office.
All of the defendants are expected to appear in court on April 30, 2021.
The case was postponed for further investigation.
MESS
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