Nombiba’s arrest warrant withdrawn

Convicted Nelson Mandela Bay ANC ward councillor Bongo Nombiba is off the hook for now after the warrant for his arrest, issued earlier this week, was withdrawn.

Commercial Crimes Court prosecutor Wilhelm de Villiers said on Thursday the warrant had been withdrawn after it emerged that Nombiba had, in fact, submitted court papers petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal to appeal against his fraud sentence.

“Nombiba will not be arrested. He filed his documents and the warrant has been withdrawn,” De Villiers said.

He said Nombiba had filed court papers at the Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) High Court on September 7.

“He was supposed to file in the Supreme Court in Bloemfontein and Bloemfontein only received his documents on Tuesday the 11th.

“In light of the fact that there was a partial filing made on September 7, as per his bail conditions, it was decided to withdraw the warrant,” De Villiers said.

Nombiba’s attorney, Ntsikelelo Mbewana, confirmed the warrant had been withdrawn.

Ward 20 councillor Nombiba was arrested in December 2016 and convicted of fraud and money laundering in April.

The court found that Nombiba had duped NGO members into handing over R20,000 of a R30,000 donation he had helped secure.

Nombiba had already started serving his five-year sentence at St Albans in April, but was granted bail later pending his application to appeal.

This comes after two failed attempts to appeal against his conviction and sentence in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court and in the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda.