'Who killed Jimmy Mohlala, Bobby?'

SOME of the placards, held up by more than 100 protesters outside the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court where Kaizer Chiefs football club manager Bobby Motaung and his co-accused appeared on charges of tender fraud, read: "Bobby, who killed Jimmy?"

The protesters were asking a question which, they said, they hoped Motaung and his co-accused's case would answer. Inside the court Motaung, 42, and his business partner Herbert Theledi, 48, were released on R50,000 bail each.

Reading out the charges, prosecutor Patrick Nkuna said the forged Sars documents had subsequently led to the "time when murders in Nelspruit started". Theledi's defence counsel, Kenny Oldwage, was quick to object to the statement.

"I would like to caution him (Nkuna) ... This is a danger zone. It's sensationalism of the worst kind ... I will ask that we deal with the matter at hand," Oldwage said.

Nkuna said: "We will state in the trial that these (forged) documents are the source of the murders."

Jimmy Mohlala, a former Mbombela local municipality speaker, was gunned down outside his home in Nelspruit in January 2009, several months after he blew the whistle on the R1.2-billion Mbombela Stadium fraud. Motaung and Theledi, who are directors of Lefika Emerging Equity, face charges of forgery and fraud relating to the building of Mbombela Stadium in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. Their other co-accused, Chris Grib, turned himself in to the police in Cape Town. He is expected to appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court today.

The State alleges that the trio and their company forged documents, that they handed to the Mbombela municipality when they were bidding for the tender to build the stadium in 2006. Hawks spokesman McIntosh Polela said they were investigating Mohlala's murder.

THEIR FINANCES - AND FAMILY OBLIGATIONS

Herbert Theledi

In an affidavit read out by Oldwage, Theledi said he was a divorcee and had nine children between 11 months and 24-years old.

He pays maintenance of about R50,000 for all his children combined.

Theledi said he had assets of about R70-million. These included houses, cars and jewellery.

His monthly income was R150,000.

Bobby Motaung

In his affidavit, read out by legal representative Nomthandazo Mtsweni, Motaung said his assets were R12-million. He had cars worth R4-million. His monthly income was R100,000. He also had other sources of income.

He is married to Ashley and they have three children aged between 5 and 23 years.

In addition to that he is the guardian of five of his late brother and sister's children.

OCTOBER DATE WITH COURT

The duo pleaded with the court not to confiscate their passports because they were businessmen and travelled a lot.

Magistrate Naomi Engelbrecht ordered that the two let the police know when they want to travel.

The case has been postponed to October 15.

Source: Sowetan

Motaung arrested by Hawks

Two men were arrested on Wednesday for fraud relating to the building of the Mbombela stadium in Mpumalanga, the Hawks said. "We have arrested two men, one in Naturena and one in Cape Town. We are looking for the third suspect," said spokesperson Colonel McIntosh Polela.

He said the men were arrested on allegations that they forged SA Revenue Services (SARS) documents to obtain a contract to build the Mbombela stadium, a match venue for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Kaizer Chiefs manager Bobby Motaung has been widely reported to be one of the men arrested. However, Chiefs disputed Motaung's arrest, saying none of their workers had been arrested. "I have consulted with all principals at Kaizer Chiefs. We do not have any officials arrested. As of now (14:20) there are no indications of any arrests at the village," spokesperson Vina Maphosa said.

Source: News 24

Poisoned: The man who blew the whistle on Mpumalanga's hit squad

A confidential autopsy report says that Mpumalanga politician James Nkambule, who died suddenly last week, was poisoned. Nkambule, 37, was the whistle-blower who earlier this year claimed that politicians were behind assassinations in the province. He alleged that corruption surrounding the building of the province's multibillion-rand Mbombela stadium for the World Cup led to the deaths.

Nkambule collapsed and died at his home in Mjindini on Thursday night last week. At the time he was attempting to get a Mozambican man - who he believed to be the hit man - placed in the witness protection programme. The autopsy, conducted by Mpumalanga chief medical officer Dr Gantcho Gantchev, concludes his death was "unnatural". In the postmortem report, Gantchev describes "white foamy material" found in Nkambule's throat and windpipe, and about 30ml of brownish fluid "suggestive of ... poison ingestion" in his stomach. Gantchev told the Sunday Times: "There is no smoke without fire." "They killed him, they killed my dad," Nkambule's daughter, Buhle Nkambule, said on hearing the news. Toxicology tests will establish the type of poison and when it entered his system.

Nkambule first rose to prominence in 2001 when he claimed there was a plot to overthrow then president Thabo Mbeki. He had been branded a "professional liar" by the ANC after publicly accusing members Mathews Phosa, Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa of being behind the move.

The ex-ANC member also recently claimed that Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza paid R400000 towards President Jacob Zuma's wedding last year. These claims were never denied by the Presidency. His wife, Claudia Xwabe, said this week that Dr Gantchev had told the family that the postmortem showed there was "a drug in (Nkambule's) body".

On Friday, police confirmed that "foul play" was suspected. "We have opened an inquest into the death," said provincial police spokesman Captain Leonard Hlati. Nkambule had recently met with police commissioner General Bheki Cele to discuss efforts to bring a Mozambican man, known in the criminal underworld as "Josh", to South Africa, where he was to be placed under a witness protection programme. Josh was to testify against prominent figures regarding the death of former Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala. Mohlala was killed after he blew the whistle on irregularities in the awarding of tenders to build the R2-billion Mbombela stadium. Mohlala's name was on a hit list of nine municipal officials opposed to awarding the contract for the construction of the stadium.

Josh has since claimed in an affidavit, now in the possession of the police, that he was hired by Mpumalanga officials and a soccer boss as a "cleaner" from 2000 until 2009 to eliminate political and business opponents. His work included smuggling drugs, poisoning people and carrying out other "hits". He said that the people he targeted included Nkambule; a former mayor of the Gert Sibande district council, Andries Gamede; Scopa chairman Fish Mahlalela; and Mbombela mayor Lassy Chiwayo.

He further alleged that Govan Mbeki municipality chief financial officer Joshua Ntshuhle's car was driven to Malawi to make it look like he had vanished. Ntshuhle went missing in December 2005, days before he was due to testify in the fraud and corruption trial of the municipality's marketing manager, Sibusiso Sigudla. The gangster further claimed that he was hired, along with three Zimbabwean nationals and a fellow Mozambican, to kill Mohlala. He said four of the men who helped carry out the hit on Mohlala had since been killed.

Nkambule recently slammed the police investigations into the murders - which might have also exposed the tender irregularities - as slow. He was due to appear in court this week on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice after police accused him of fabricating the sworn statement by Josh.

The Sunday Times has established that the police have yet to question anyone in connection with Nkambule's earlier complaint that he had been poisoned. The politician had maintained he was poisoned in 2006 by political opponents, leaving him having to be hospitalised several times. In August last year, Nkambule said, Josh approached him and confessed that he had poisoned him on instructions from a senior politician. In a statement seen by the Sunday Times, Josh details how he was handed "a small bottle that was full of liquid substances" in 2006, and instructed to infiltrate a company catering for a matric dance in Barberton where Nkambule was a guest speaker. "I did in September 2006 ... empty the bottle ... in James Nkambule's food and I went to personally serve him at his table," he said in his statement.

Josh claimed he was prompted to confess to Nkambule after he learnt that his fellow assassins had all been executed to destroy evidence. Nkambule submitted the statement to police in February - whereupon he was arrested on suspicion of fabricating the statement. Hlati this week rubbished Nkambule and Josh's claims: "We did not question any person because we did not receive any statement from Josh," he said on Friday. "If you have this Josh, please produce him."

Source: Times Live

Sanef slams threat against editor

The South African National Editors' Forum (Sanef) has pledged its full support for Mercury news editor Philani Makhanya, who has lodged a complaint of intimidation against Durban millionaire and former metro policeman S'bu Mpisane, following perceived threats he made relating to an investigation the newspaper is conducting.

Sanef said it was interesting that the politically connected, high-spending businessman was a friend of national police commissioner Bheki Cele. "As Angela Quintal, editor of The Mercury, says in her supporting affidavit, the newspaper, like all media, has a special duty to uphold the principle of freedom of expression and to eliminate dishonesty, news suppression and censorship."

After allegedly threatening Makhanya during a phone call, Mpisane referred to his relationship with Cele and said that "Bheki will defend me even if I go to jail". Cele told The Mercury he would not condone illegal activity, including from those he knew, if they had transgressed the law. He distanced himself from the threats Mpisane allegedly made. Police are investigating the complaint.

Sanef said it was also outraged at reports that journalists in Mpumalanga were on a hit list targeting corruption-busters in the province. "So far two provincial government officials said to have been on the list have been murdered. Samuel Mpatlanyane, Mpumalanga's sports and culture department head of communications, was shot dead by assassins during the night last week.

"Vusi Shongwe, the province's sports and culture MEC, has blamed the murder on the same people who killed Mbombela municipality speaker Jimmy Mohlala. Mohlala was similarly executed at home in front of his son last January." Mohlala was a witness in a disciplinary hearing concerning financial mismanagement related to the Mbombela Stadium, a World Cup venue.

Sanef said the murder and threatened murder of potential witnesses and journalists put a nasty twist on South Africa's struggle against corruption. "Sanef deplores the loss of life so far and urges anybody with information about the alleged hit list to inform the police without delay."

Source: IoL