March 12 deadline for fraudster Nombiba’s appeal

Convicted fraudster Bongo Nombiba has until March 12 to petition the judge-president of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to reconsider his failed appeal.

The Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor lost his application for leave to appeal against his conviction and sentence in the SCA last Friday.

His presence in the council meeting was the subject of debate on-and-off for about three hours on Thursday, as opposition councillors felt him being there tainted the legality of the decisions taken at the meeting

They demanded he be removed from the chamber.

DA councillor Morne Steyn said: “Legislation is quite clear, that if someone is convicted, they are not allowed to be in the chamber.

“Any decisions we take will be invalid. The ANC has said that it will remove them.”

But ANC councillor Andile Lungisa said: “We are not a court of law.

“The court was clear if his appeal is not successful he can go to the judge-president. “The DA wants to be clever.” Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels asked speaker Buyelwa Mafaya to consider the legalities around having Nombiba present.

“I don’t want us to waste time. In the event of a councillor not being fit to be here he must be dealt with,” he said.

Nombiba declined to comment before the meeting, only saying: “I’m still a councillor.”

After initially referring to a legal opinion that he received via a WhatsApp message, acting city manager Peter Neilson produced a written document.

In it, Ed Murray of McWilliams & Elliot Inc wrote that in terms of the Constitutional Court rules, Nombiba has 15 days to lodge an application for leave to appeal.

“Councillor Nombiba has accordingly until 12 March 2019 to lodge the appeal.

“A convicted person is not regarded as having been sentenced ‘until an appeal against the conviction or sentence has been determined, or until the time for an appeal has expired’.

“Therefore, and for the purpose of qualifying to vote, councillor Nombiba may do so until the period has expired to launch an application for leave to appeal,” Murray wrote.

Nombiba was convicted in April 2018 of fraud and money laundering after the court found he had duped an NGO’s members into handing over R20,000 of a R30,000 donation he had helped secure.

He started serving his fiveyear sentence at St Albans in April, but was granted bail later pending his application to appeal against both his conviction and sentence.

When his appeal bid failed in the Commercial Crimes Court, he turned to the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda, where his appeal was also denied.

The ANC in the Eastern Cape has since said it will start the process of removing him as a councillor.

His vacancy in Ward 19 would, however, have to take place through a by-election.