Ofentse Leeuw (23) and Andiswa Ntswabe (23) appeared before the Welkom Regional Court on Monday, 6 May, where they were both sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
Their sentencing originates from an incident which took place on 21 July 2023, where Leeuw and Ntswabe approached the Welkom Department of Labour offices and presented false bank statements, false salary advices, Unemployment Insurance Funds (UIF)-19 forms, as well as UIF-2.8 forms to authorise the payment of benefits into a banking account.
The accused presented those documents in an attempt to claim from the UIF an amount of R50 000. After submitting the documents, the accused had to undergo an interview process conducted by an official.
During the interview process, the accused failed to answer certain questions. The official further discovered that one of the applicants was never employed by a certain company. as indicated on the claim form.
The official then reported the matter to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in Welkom. The police responded and went to the Labour offices on the same day and arrested the suspects. The accused appeared in court on several occasions, culminating in their conviction on 19 April.
The case was then postponed to 6 May for sentencing. The court sentenced both the accused to three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for four years on condition that they are not convicted of the same offence during the period of suspension.
They were also placed under correctional supervision for two years. Both the accused were declared unfit to possess a firearm.
