Three more farmers from the Nwanedi area were arrested and appeared in the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Court on charges of fraud. This came after three senior officials from the Limpopo Department of Agriculture and four Nwanedi farmers were arrested at the beginning of March this year for allegedly defrauding the department of more than R2 million that had been set aside by the department to assist small-scale farmers who had been affected by the floods in the Vhembe District between 2013 and 2014.
According to W/O Lethunya Mmuroa, the spokesperson for the HAWKS in Limpopo, the Department of Agriculture set aside a budget to reimburse the affected farmers. "They were provided with an opportunity to submit their invoices/claims to fix the damages on their farms. The processes unfolded and resulted in the department reimbursing the farmers, but some of the farmers colluded with officials from the department by submitting fraudulent claims/invoices."
Mmuroa said the monies got paid without verification. They established that the officials would add fictitious names of subcontractors to the department's payroll who would be paid without following due processes. The funds would be paid to the farmers, who would then transfer the money to the subcontractors and the subcontractors would withdraw the money and pay the officials in cash.
The department's forensic investigators discovered the shenanigans in 2020 and opened a case that was later referred to the Hawks' Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit. The matter was investigated from 2020 until 27 January 2023, when the first seven suspects were summoned to appear before the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Court.
Chief Director Lesetja Marks Kola (49), Director Makopoi Nkopane (46), Assistant Director Segwane Lewin Matlakala (63), and farmers Reuben Tshilandi (72), Barendt Vorster (49), Koekie Scholtz (40) and Frans Mudau (68) were the first to appear in court. On 2 March, their case was postponed to Thursday, 13 April, when the additional three accused, Thomas Sadiki (54), Mafa Abraham Setlamela (59) and Ntuseni Benedict Nesane (46), who were arrested at the beginning of April this year, appeared with them.
The case was postponed to 30 June while investigations continue.