A former ghost employee, Rerang Nchabane (34), the former Director: LED, Nkosi Patrice Mondi (54), and the former Director: Corporate Services, Seipati Mavis Mabula (50), appeared before the Bethlehem Magistrate’s Court on Friday 17 March.
The Free State Hawks initially arrested the two former directors of the Dihlabeng Municipality and the ghost employee in Bloemfontein and Bethlehem on Thursday 16 March for alleged fraudulent activities.
According to the Hawks spokesperson in the Free State, Christopher Singo, the arrests stems from an incident that took place between January 2020 and December 2021, where a ghost employee was working at the municipality as a contract worker, receiving a monthly salary of R12 000.
“During the internal audit process undertaken by the municipality, the suspect was called in to sign attendance registers for the duration of his ‘employment’ within the municipality.”
According to Singo, it is alleged that the former Director of Local Economic Development (LED) who was the supervisor of the ghost employee at the time, allegedly instructed his subordinate to create an attendance register for the ghost employee as if he was reporting on duty at all times.
“It is further alleged that the former Director: Corporate Services, who was an acting Municipal Manager at the time, was present when her colleague, the Director: LED, instructed his subordinate to create an attendance register. She also signed the contract of the ghost employee. As a result of these fraudulent activities, the municipality was prejudiced and suffered a total loss of more than R290 000.”
The matter was reported to the Bethlehem-based Hawks’ team for further investigation, which culminated in the arrest of the suspects.
The case has been remanded to 17 April 2023 and they were granted R5000 bail each.
Compiled by Bonolo Moloi
