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By Jonisayi Maromo 
8h ago
Pretoria – The Limpopo High Court has ordered the seizure of a Mercedes-Benz GLE 350d coupe registered to Paulinah Mmapule Malepa, wife of David Kgantshi Malepa, deputy director of the scandal-plagued local Mogalakwena municipality, outside Polokwane. the NPA said Tuesday.
“This follows a request from the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) of the National Tax Authority in Polokwane for an order to preserve the property.
“This Mercedes-Benz motor vehicle is believed to be the product of illegal activities, namely extortion and money laundering,” said NPA regional spokesperson in Limpopo Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi.
In court documents, it was revealed that during 2017 several service providers from the local municipality of Mogalakwena were “forced” to pay money to Mercurius Motors in Polokwane for the purchase of the controversial Mercedes-Benz GLE.
“David Kgantshi Malepa, deputy director of technical services, threatened the service providers with depositing money into the account numbers that he had provided to said service providers, failing which he would not authorize payments for the services they provided to the municipality”, He said. Malabi-Dzhangi.
“The service providers paid the total amount of R1.4m to Mercurius Motors for the purchase of said Mercedes-Benz motor vehicle. David Kgantshi Malepa registered the Mercedes-Benz motor vehicle in the name of his wife, Paulinah Mmapule Malepa, who works as a teacher in the Department of Basic Education ”.
Malabi-Dzhangi said the preservation of property order was achieved as a result of “excellent cooperation” between the NPA and the Hawks.
“This case reinforces the commitment of law enforcement agencies to ensure that no one benefits from the crime.
“The NPA welcomes the order, and asset forfeiture continues to be an effective law enforcement mechanism to ensure that no person benefits from the crime and to ensure that the crime is unprofitable,” he said.
The local municipality of Mogalakwena has been in the spotlight due to poor governance and alleged rampant corruption.
Last year, the unions called on the Limpopo prime minister to take action against those accused of corruption after the murder of Vaaltyn Kekana, who was a senior official in the municipality.
At the time, the Limpopo provincial manager of the South African Public Servants Association, John Teffo, said the murder was believed to be linked to the impending forensic report after the Mogalakwena municipality incurred more than 1.1 billion rand in fruitless and wasteful expenses in the prior financial year.
Last month, after months of bad publicity amid the alleged misappropriation of millions of rand, The Citizen newspaper reported that Jabu Mashamaite, deputy director of corporate services for Mogalakwena Municipality, had been accused of misrepresenting his qualifications when he was appointed. about four years ago. .
In February, the Hawks raided the township offices and seized several documents as part of an investigation into alleged bid rigging and corruption.
The SABC reported that non-compliance in the supply chain and municipal finances resulted in the municipality incurring unauthorized spending of almost R3 billion (about US $ 180 million) in the last three financial years.
African News Agency
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