PORT ELIZABETH - CHRIS HANI MUNICIPALITY CFO APPEARED IN PE COURT FOR FRAUD TOTALING R100000

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Chris Hani District Municipality, Nomfundo Fetsha appeared in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Monday where she was released on bail of R2000.

Fetsha had earlier handed herself over to police after she was investigated for fraud and theft.


Fetsha and businessman Mfundo Kwani, the director of Mfuraa Projects and General CC, are accused of fraud totalling R100 000.

She is accused of misusing money meant for a 2016 youth programme.

The R100 000 sponsorship from Zana Manzi Services Pty Ltd was meant for the purchase of soccer and netball kits for 100 children at the Siyanda Aviation Awareness Camp in the Chris Hani district.

Fetsha allegedly channelled the money through the bank account of Mfuraa Projects, Kwani’s company.

According to the indictment,  during July 2016 Fetsha wrote a letter to Zana Manzi Services Pty Ltd, for the attention of Ngaba Tomson, requesting a sponsorship amounting to R100 000 to be used for a youth programme for June to extend to July 2016.

 The contents of the said letter indicated that the sponsorship was intended to buy soccer and netball kits and to conduct an aviation learnership.

 Zana Manzi Services Pty Ltd made payment on July 15, 2016, to the bank account of Chris Hani District Municipality.

Then on the same day, Fetsha approached Silindokuhle Mani, who was the Senior Accountant Revenue Section, Cash and Bank at Chris Hani District Municipality at the time, and requested her to transfer the cash into the bank account of Kwani.

The State alleges that Fetsha did not provide any supporting documentation for the transaction but undertook to provide it at a later stage.

Mvuyisi Mdzeke, the Co-ordinator for Siyanda Aviation Awareness Camp at Chris Hani District Municipality, was not aware of any donations that were donated for the aviation learnership.

According to the State, Fetsha and Kwani were accomplices and acted with a common purpose to defraud the municipality.

The indictment reads, that the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA) Implementation Unit, within the Office of Accountant-General at National Treasury indicated that the Chris Hani District Municipality did not disclose any sponsorship or donation received by the municipality to the National Treasury, for the financial year 2016/2017.

The indictment states that there was also no evidence of any procurement process followed in sourcing services from Mfuraa Projects.

Neither was there any evidence of quotations requested or sourced from at least three different service providers.

In August last year, a search and seizure operation was executed at the business premises of Kwani. Police investigators searched for the invoice relating to the payment of the R100 000 into Kwani’s bank account.

The indictment reads that Kwani provided an invoice to police but this invoice was never provided to the Chris Hani District Municipality for payment. In addition, the State alleges Kwani’s company did not perform any work for the Chris Hani District Municipality.

Kwani is facing an additional charge of forgery in that the State alleges he forged the invoice handed over to police.

The case was postponed to April 5.

via - IOL