Durban - The Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has sentenced a 38-year-old man after he defrauded his employer, Ndwedwe Local Municipality, north of Durban, of nearly R500 000.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo said Nkosingizwile Gama was employed by the municipality as payroll administrator in 2015 and 2016.
“He created ghost employees and used fictitious names to defraud the municipality. As a result, Ndwedwe municipality suffered an actual prejudice of R488 142.60,” he said.
According to Mhlongo, during the certification of salary payments, his supervisor noticed suspicious payments.
He said a case of fraud was then reported at Ndwedwe police station and the case docket was allocated to Hawks members for thorough investigation.
“Gama was sentenced to six years imprisonment of which two years was suspended for five years on condition that he does not commit the same offence during the period of suspension,” said Mhlongo.
In February, The Mercury reported that ex-electricity department foreman at Msunduzi Municipality, Preetham Sukrajh, was convicted and sentenced for 24 counts of fraud related to overtime abuse.
The report said Sukrajh had been charged for fraud amounting to over R74 000.
According to a court document, the matter was concluded on February 22, 2023. Sukrajh was sentenced to five years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that he was not convicted of fraud or theft during the suspension period.
The court ordered that he pay the amount of R74 397.92 in monthly instalments of R2 500 until the full amount was paid. Payment is effective from February 28.
Municipal spokesperson Ntobeko Mkhize said the case stemmed from investigations by the Internal Audit Unit that started in the 2014/15 financial year in which three foremen, including Sukrajh, were investigated for overtime abuse in the electricity department.