New allegation of Mandela funeral fraud
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) is probing a second case of alleged Mandela funeral fraud against controversial East London businessman Mzwandile Sokwali.
Sokwali is accused of forging another company’s documents when submitting quotations for transporting mourners during Nelson Mandela’s memorial services in 2014.
He is already convicted for his involvement in the R9.9m Mandela memorial service scandal. He was sentenced to five years in prison, wholly suspended for five years, while Victory Ticket, his company, was fined R100,000, of which R50,000 was suspended.
Sokwali might now have to answer in a further case linked to the memorial scandal.
In statements seen by the Daily Dispatch that have been submitted to the Hawks, Mninawe Nyiba, who owns Mni Transport, details how his company’s name, letterhead, stamp and even his signature were forged and used as one of three quotations which were sourced by the Buffalo City Metro.
The allegedly fraudulent quotation is valued at R10.5m.
Attempts to get comment from Sokwali were not successful at the time of writing on Friday.
Texts sent to his two cell numbers were not responded to. One of his phones was answered by a woman who said that Sokwali was busy and she promised to alert him to the text messages.
Contacted for comment, Nyiba referred all questions to the Hawks.
In his police statement, Nyiba states that in 2014, he received a call from Hawks investigator Luphumlo Lwana asking him about the Mni Transport quotation.
He was then visited by Lwana and another officer.
“They asked me to look at a quotation dated December 2013 under the Mni Transport letterhead,” he said.
“I informed them that [regarding] the contents of the quotation date, description, activity and signature, I have no knowledge about them as the signature is not mine.
“I further informed the investigators that Buffalo City municipality never requested any quotation from me and I also never submitted any quotation to BCM.
“I never gave any person permission to submit any quotation of my company to BCM.”
After not receiving updates from the Hawks after being questioned in 2014, Nyiba again approached the Hawks in October 2018 to inquire about any progress in the matter, and another affidavit was drawn up.
Hawks spokesperson Anelisa Feni confirmed that the elite police unit was aware of the case. However, she said that they had only recently become aware of it.
“The matter is within our space as from the year 2018. At this stage we cannot divulge any further information,” Feni said.
In his 2018 statement, Nyiba says the alleged fraudulent activity might hinder his tax affairs with the South African Revenue Services.
“Furthermore the South African Revenue Service is going to tax me a lot.
“I never received any money for this tendering,” part of the statement reads.
He goes on to state that upon being informed by the Hawks in 2014, he approached his legal team so that legal action could be taken against Sokwali.
“I approached my legal advisors . . to lay a charge against Mzwandile Sokwali for using my company for tendering the procurement [documents] for the Mandela funeral without my consent,” the statement further reads.
The quotation, seen by the Dispatch, quotes BCM for the transportation of mourners for five days to memorial services which were held in Gompo, King William’s Town, Mdantsane, East London, the Nelson Mandela Stadium and Sisa Dukashe Stadium in Mdantsane.