The accused Ketlhwoecoeng Mildred Setlaba (45), Motebang Frank Mokoena (45), Sarah Bantikile Saila (63), Muso David Makae (62), and Meshack Modise Tlokotsi (54), as well as Thato Goodwill Sempe (50), appeared before the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court on Thursday, 12 August 2021 where they faced allegations of fraud, corruption, and theft. They were arrested on Thursday, 12 August 2021 by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Bloemfontein assisted by Serious Economic Offences Unit in Pretoria.
It is alleged that during the period of 2011 and 2012 three former officials from the Department of Human Settlements, Bloemfontein attached to the Payment Authorization Section, engaged in unauthorized and irregular negotiations with some of the service providers of the Department outside their delegation in order to initiate irregular or corrupt activities. They used the Housing Subsidy System ( HSS ) to identify old projects of the financial years from 2008 to 2009 which still have the remaining allocated budget.
They solicited and received gratification in the form of cash amounts from the service providers in exchange for the facilitation of falsified and undue claim payments which were processed through the financial processes of the Department. It is further alleged that the three of the officials received over R520 000-00 from various service providers. As a result of these false claims, the Department of Human Settlements suffered a total loss of approximately R7.9 million.
The case against the accused has been postponed to Friday, 03 September 2021, and all the accused were released on R5000 bail each.
