Cough up R20k or go to jail, SCA tells crooked cop

A SENIOR Grahamstown police officer convicted of fraud after he fiddled his travel claims will have to cough up his R20 000 fine or serve two years imprisonment after the Supreme Court of Appeal refused him leave to appeal.

Tengimpilo Maqebhula, a former Lieutenant-Colonel, who was the commanding officer in charge of the Grahamstown Local Record Centre (LCRC), was convicted of fraud in 2014 after using police vehicles for private use while claiming he was on official business. Trackers on the police cars used exposed Maqebhula.

For one trip he claimed he was testifying in a case in Cradock. This turned out to be false and instead the car was tracked on a meandering trip through King William’s Town and East London before reaching Cradock the evening of the day he had claimed he was supposed to be in court.

The second time he used a police vehicle for private use he did not even seek permission. He travelled over 350km on that particular trip, which he did not log.

The odometer was disconnected, but the vehicle tracker mapped exactly where the vehicle had been.

The SCA found that as a senior officer subject to the rules relating to the use of official vehicles, he was under a duty to disclose his proposed use of the vehicles. In the first case he had misrepresented the official reason for the trip and in the second had provided no reason at all.

“Because of this duty, his silence constituted a misrepresentation by omission that he had not used the vehicle,” said acting SCA Judge Owen Rogers.

“The disconnection of the odometer is simply a piece of evidence.”

Maqebhula had claimed that race relations at the Grahamstown LCRC were tense and he was being victimised by white colleagues.

While the SCA said it could not form a view of this claim, it had no bearing on this case.

The SCA found there were no prospects that the conviction would be upset on appeal.

It also dismissed leave to appeal against sentence. It found the sentence was not shockingly severe. Judges Visvanathan Ponnan, Nigel Willis, Ramaka Mathopo and acting Judge of Appeal Dennis Davis concurred.