The Hanover Regional Court in the Northern Cape has sentenced 44-year-old Nomava Luwalala to eight years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, after she was convicted on at least 20 charges of fraud.
Luwalala made her first court appearance shortly after she was arrested in December last year.
“The accused (Luwalala) pleaded guilty in terms of Section 112 of Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 on all 20 counts of fraud as charged,” said Northern Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (also know as the Hawks), Captain Tebogo Thebe.
The Hawks’ serious corruption investigation team executed a warrant of arrest against Luwalala on December 1 last year, and successfully investigated the matter against the Emthanjeni Municipality traffic department’s official, resulting in the conviction.
“Nomava Luwalala, worked as a cashier at the municipality's traffic department unit, where she manipulated the eNatis system (electronic national administration traffic information system) for over a period of time covering July 2019 to December 2020. While performing her duties, she failed to report all the monies received,” said Thebe.
The municipality suffered a loss of R120,252 as a result of Luwalala’s action, according to the Hawks.
“Nomava (Luwalala) was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on condition that she is not convicted of fraud, theft or attempted theft during the period of suspension.
“The accused was further directed to pay back an amount of R120,252 in instalments of R10,000 until the total amount is paid,” said Thebe.
Meanwhile, provincial head of the Hawks in Northern Cape, Major General Stephen Mabuela has welcomed the outcome of the case, and the work done on the matter.
“What mostly pleases me is that the municipality will recover the loss as per the court order,” said Mabuela.
Last year, three workers at the White River Traffic Department in Mpumalanga were arrested over R60 million fraud, theft and money laundering charges.
The trio, aged between 36 and 42, were arrested at their workplaces in September.
Mpumalanga Hawks spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi said the arrests came after a joint operation between the Hawks and Road Traffic Management Cooperation.
IOL