Former Hawks head trial continues to heat up
The general had not been popular with the men as he did not pay them overtime and drove them hard.
MBOMBELA – On Friday a witness for the defence testified that the fraud-accused and sacked head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Lt Gen Simon Mapyane, was unpopular among his subordinates.
According to the witness’s testimony, officers were so afraid of Mapyane that they would have been on tenterhooks had he travelled with them on one of the days in question, as the state alleges.
Mapyane’s trial continued in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Thursday and Friday. He stands accused of allegedly claiming travel expenses for official trips he never undertook. He was arrested in May 2014 and released on bail of R1 000. The crux of the case against him is based on the cellphone bills – one of his official phone.
According to the charge sheet, Mapyane requested remuneration to the amount of R2 805,84 for travel expenses pertaining to a court case he had to attend in Pretoria on August 1, 2 and 3, 2010.
He allegedly filed more claims for work-related travels between Mbombela and Pretoria, amounting to R5 551,06, on September 1 and 2, 2010.
It was further alleged that Mapyane claimed R2 391,90 after travelling to Ogies on April 25, 2012.
He was also charged with claiming
R2 805,85 in travel expenses for a work trip on September 9, 2010.
Mapyane stated during cross-examination that he had given all five of his phones to the state but they had only focused on two.
WO Progress Mashaba, from the organised crime unit took the stand for the defence on Friday.
He said he received a call from Mapyane on April 25 about assisting in an unrest situation in Ogies. He then informed other members of the team.
Mashaba testified that the kombi, which he assumed had come from Lydenburg as told telephonically, would meet them en route. He said he and two others travelled in the bakkie and met up at the Vivo garage in Schoemanksloof where they bought food, before proceeding to Ogies.
“We parked the vehicle at the back of the police station and started eating. While we were eating the general came up to us and shouted at us as others were inside working.”
Mashaba also said he would not have forgotten if Mapyane had travelled with them as they would have been kept on their toes. He also testified that the general had not been popular with the men as he did not pay them overtime and drove them hard. This was in direct contradiction to a previous testimony in court by WO Paul Johannes Holtzhauzen.
He testified that he was called to Ogies Police Station on Mapyane’s instruction on that day.
Holtzhauzen recalled seeing the police’s Hyundai kombi enter the station’s grounds. According to his testimony, Mapyane was seated inside it.
Read more here: Ex Hawks head asks court for discharge
Holtzhauzen said the arrival and departure of a general was not something that went by unnoticed.
The trial is scheduled to continue on June 8.
