Former Hawks Captain appears in court again for corruption

MBOMBELA –   The matter was postponed until December 5 for the appointment of a new defence attorney.

Nkwanyana (48), and  former Capt Peter Mathekanyana Molapo (58), were convicted and sentenced to five and six years direct imprisonment respectively by the Middleburg Regional Court on Friday for fraud and forgery.

The pair were convicted for fraud, forgery,  after the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigating unit’s probe exposed the falsified  travel claims which they submitted to the finance office in 2006.

The two accused had claimed that they booked into a guest house for two nights yet investigations revealed that they only stayed for a single night. They subsequently submitted a claim of approximately R 850-00 each with altered dates on invoices.

During the trial, state Adv Patrick Nkuna led the testimonies of the guest house owner and evidence received from the finance personal who revealed that there were discrepancies on the invoices received from the pair – the letterhead and a special managers discount were falsified on the invoices.

A handwriting expert also testified and confirmed that the invoices were indeed forged.

Nkwanyana  has separate pending cases related to three  counts of theft and three, counts of defeating the ends of justice which is continuing in the Nelspruit Regional Court.

Nkwanyana was dismissed from the service during November 2017 following an internal disciplinary procedure whilst Molapo resigned this year before a disciplinary procedure could commence.

The National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Lt GenGodfrey Lebeya welcomed the sentence.

“Law enforcement officers must be honest in executing their duties. Those who choose to be dishonest will regret, for crime does not pay. I would also like to commend the investigators from the DPCI who investigated the matter without fear or favour”, he concluded.