Lawyer arrested on charges of defrauding clients
Hawks nab him for second case outside court
Controversial Eastern Cape attorney Mzwandile Bobotyana has spent the weekend in jail after he was arrested on Friday on allegations of defrauding a client of more than R650,000.
Bobotyana, 54, was nabbed by the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation unit just moments after he appeared in the Komani magistrate’s court on another fraud charge related to the illegal R2.1m sale of a client’s house in 2015.
He appeared in court immediately after his arrest to face the new fraud charge. He is expected to appear again in the same court on Monday to make a formal bail application.
Bobotyana’s arrest was confirmed on Sunday by Hawks’ provincial spokesperson Captain Anelisa Feni.
Feni said the lawyer had been arrested after he allegedly pocketed the entire R650,000 of a Road Accident Fund (RAF) payout, leaving not a cent for his 45year-old client.
He submitted a claim to the RAF on behalf of a client in 2014 – the year of his client’s car accident in Cofimvaba.
The RAF paid out the amount in June 2016.
However, his client claims that he never received his portion of the R650,000, Feni said.
The Komani-based lawyer, who owns several properties around Buffalo City Metro, is not new to controversy.
In February 2017, his assets were provisionally frozen by the Grahamstown high court pending finalisation of criminal proceedings against him in the R2.1m sale of businessman Afzal Mohammad’s house. His assets, including a property in NU3 Mdantsane, Ukhozi Crescent, in East London, and three vehicles, as well as shares or equity in four other luxury vehicles, were surrendered and placed under the control of a curator.
The house in question is the historic Lady Frere home belonging to Barbara CanadyMasimini, the widow of the late Transkei homeland politician Ngqondi Lesley Masimini.
In 2007, Canady-Masimini appointed Bobotyana’s firm to deal with her late husband’s assets, including the house. In 2015 she revoked his power of attorney.
Despite this, Bobotyana sought to sell the property to an unsuspecting Mohammad – who paid the full amount but the transfer of the house never took place.
At the time his assets were attached in February 2017, an analysis of Bobotyana’s firm account showed that the day before Mohammad deposited the amount in Bobotyana’s trust account, it had just R27 in it.
Within days of receiving the money, he paid R40,000 to Wesbank for his cars and R13,000 to a relative, and withdrew about R200,000 in cash. He forked out a further R1.8m in internet payments to various unknown entities.
Within a few days after Mohammad’s deposit, the entire payment was used and Bobotyana firm’s trust account was back down to R81.
His arrest comes a day after Eastern Cape lawyer Zuko Nonxuba was granted R80,000 bail by the Mthatha magistrate's court.
He was arrested for fraud amounting to R30m with the Hawks claiming that in 2013 and 2016 he filed bogus medical negligence claims against the state.
Bobotyana allegedly pocketed the entire R650,000 of a Road Accident Fund payout