Matric certificate fraudster pleads guilty

Published May 25, 2022

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Cape Town - A Cofimvaba man was released on R4 000 bail by the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after pleading guilty to charges of fraud earlier on Wednesday after it was found he forged a matric certificate.

Alleged fraudster Lesedi Mothuse, 38, was released on bail shortly after his arrest by the East London based Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation.

Hawks spokesperson, Yolisa Mgolodela, said: “During 2011, Mothuse applied for employment as a data capturer in the Department of Health in Cofimvaba where he submitted a Grade 12 certificate together with his application documents.

“A verification of qualifications was later conducted by the Department of Health on the employee and it was discovered that the employee never passed Grade 12.”

The matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation in November 2021.

The investigation revealed that the department suffered a loss of more than R1.7 million through the payment of his salary in that period.

The trial date is set for 21 July 2022.

Meanwhile, in a separate matter, two business directors from Gauteng and one from KwaZulu-Natal appeared in the East London Specialised Commercial Crimes Court after their arrest by the East London based Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team, early on Wednesday morning.

Mgolodela said their arrests emanated from the personal protective equipment tenders alleged to have been acquired fraudulently during May 2020.

The three men were released on R10 000 bail and the matter was remanded to July 18, 2022 for copies of the dockets, said Mgolodela.

“It is alleged that the two 46-year-old directors – Xolile Winston Zakhe and Richard Aron Meyer – who originate from Gauteng submitted fraudulent lease documents to the Department of Health in the Eastern Cape, giving a misrepresentation of being residents of the Eastern Cape as that was part of the requirements then.

“On the very same day, a 43-year-old sole director from Durban – Jayslin Naidoo – is also alleged to have misled the Department of Health in the Eastern Cape claiming to be having a lease agreement as well, thus qualifying him to benefit from the PPE tender.

“Services were rendered by the respective companies and more than R3 million was paid by the department,” said Mgolodela.

Additional charges of forgery and uttering are expected to be added to the accused charge sheets.

Cape Times