‘DEAD MAN’ WANTED
Ex-ANC leader, who faked his own death, is a fugitive from the law after he skipped bail
The Hawks in the Eastern Cape are hunting for former ANC leader Zolani Xego who, having failed to overturn a fraud conviction for faking his own death in an attempt to claim a R3.6m life policy, has missed his deadline to hand himself over to the police.
A warrant of arrest has been issued for the fugitive from the law, and the elite crime fighting unit has urged citizens to help track down the 48-year-old miscreant.
In October, the Grahamstown high court judge Thamie Beshe reduced Xego’s 15-year jail sentence to eight after he applied for the conviction to be overturned.
The Hawks have vowed to hunt down the former ANC Beacon Bay Nokhanime (ward 4) branch chair.
On Sunday, provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Anelisa Feni said they had served Xego on October 18 with a summons to surrender himself at the East London magistrate’s court in 72 hours to start serving his prison sentence.
“He failed to do so and therefore, on October 24, the court issued a warrant for his arrest.”
Feni called on anyone who knew of Xego’s whereabouts to contact investigating officer Warrant Officer Mncedisi Tiyeka on 071-481-2853 or report it at the nearest police station.
Xego had been out on bail pending the outcome of his appeal. He was represented by East London attorney firm Malusi & Co.
The Dispatch was unable to get comment from the attorneys on Sunday as they were closed for business.
Xego and his ex-wife Vuyelwa Hlekiso were convicted on several counts of fraud after Xego faked his own death and Hlekiso tried to get insurers Discovery Life to pay out on the R3.6m policy he had taken out shortly before his “death”.
Hlekiso was sentenced to correctional supervision.
The two were also convicted of faking the theft of a vehicle and claiming the insurance.
Hlekiso appealed only against her conviction while Xego appealed against both conviction and sentence.
Beshe found the only reasonable inference to be drawn from the evidence was that the then husband and wife team had acted together to fake Xego’s death and claim on his life policies, as well as to defraud another insurance company in respect of the vehicle. She confirmed their fraud conviction.
However, she found there were grounds to reduce the jail sentence given to Xego.
She said even though the crime was a serious one, his attempts to defraud Discovery Life Insurance had failed and the insurance company had suffered only “potential” prejudice. Xego and Hlekiso had ultimately not benefited in any way. This served to reduce his sentence to eight years.
The Dispatch first broke Xego’s story in 2009 when he was accused of buying driver’s licences for two councillors.
Further investigations uncovered that Xego’s case had been investigated by the department of home affairs, which had declared him dead in 2007.