A resident of Kroonstad has pleaded guilty to fraud, as charged, and was sentenced to three years imprisonment wholly suspended for three years.
Karabelo Clement Matlalesa (33) appeared before the Kroonstad Magistrates Court on Monday, 8 July where he pleaded guilty.
His conviction originates from an incident which took place during November 2018, where the victim was approached through a phone call by the suspect. The suspect introduced himself as an official of the Ngwathe Local Municipality. He told the victim that he was sent by his colleague, who is his supervisor, to make arrangements for the cancellation of his municipal debt to the amount of R11 000.
The victim further received WhatsApp messages with a proof of the clearance of his municipal debt to the amount of more than R25 000 which resulted in the victim’s account reduced to R1 646.
The victim then received another message with a bank account number where he was instructed to pay an amount of R11 000 for his municipal debt which was cleared.
On 21 November 2018, the victim reported the matter to the Hawks and the case was allocated to the serious corruption investigation team based in Bloemfontein.
On 4 December 2018, an operation was conducted by the police and arrangements were made with the suspects to transfer the money. On 5 December 2018, the suspects were arrested.
The Kroonstad court sentenced Matlalesa, and the case against his co-accused was remanded to 2 October.
