‘Muvhango’ loses millions in petty cash
Manager in court for theft, fraud
A former senior manager of Muvhango has been arrested for allegedly siphoning over R3-million from the SABC television soapie’s petty cash.
The former production manager made his first appearance at the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg yesterday after he was nabbed on Sunday.
He is facing fraud and theft charges relating to the missing R3.3-million.
The man was responsible for preparing and arranging shoots for Muvhango to ensure the smooth running of the popular SABC2 soapie.
His other duties involved providing invoices, signing receipts from service providers and being entrusted with the company petty cash.
It is alleged he “created fictitious service providers and/or names and/or persons and would, from time to time, pay out cash from the petty cash [into his own account] while pretending to pay service providers and/or persons...” reads the charge sheet.
“The accused signed on the receipt book in lieu of allowing the recipient of the amounts mentioned... to sign as per the required company policy. The accused also did not use the company’s receipt books while doing so.
“The accused failed to give a detailed account of the recipients of the money and also could not give a sufficient description of the purpose of such payments,” reads the charge sheet.
It is alleged that he transferred the funds from the company account to his personal bank account.
The charge sheet says the accused unlawfully, falsely and with the intent to defraud, gave out and pretended to Muvhango executive producer Duma Ndlovu and his company Word of Mouth Productions that the service providers and/or persons... had rendered a service to the company entitling them to a payment.
Sowetan has been reliably informed that the man, who cannot be named as he is yet to plead, resigned from the company when a disciplinary hearing was initiated against him.
In court yesterday, prosecutor Advocate Bongani Chauke and the accused’s lawyer Chris Mamathuntsha requested magistrate Jansen van Vuuren to postpone the matter to October 17 for plea and bail application.
The man will remain in custody.
Word of Mouth Pictures general manager Ernest Manatha said: “We can’t comment on the case since it’s in the hands of the court.”
Police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubele said the alleged fraud took place between 2012 and 2017 and the suspect was the only individual linked to the crime.