A former Eskom administration clerk will spend 10 years behind bars after she was found guilty and sentenced by the Mbombela Specialised Commercial Crime Court on Wednesday on charges of fraud, theft and money laundering, amounting to R2.6m.

According to Mpumalanga’s National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson Monica Nyuswa, Nwabisa Ngxola, was charged along with her two co-accused – Michael Chimanzi, a businessman, and Cinderella Moropane, who was also employed by Eskom as finance clerk.

The Mpumalanga Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawks) spokesperson, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, said Ngxola’s sentence and conviction followed a lengthy investigation conducted by the Nelspruit Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit and Eskom’s forensic investigators.

Sekgotodi said Ngxola was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

During November 2013, Ngxola, who was working as an administration clerk for Eskom, and Moropane colluded with Chimanzi.

She said Chimanzi was found guilty and sentenced by the Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crime Court on March 1 for fraud, theft and money laundering. During the sentencing, the court took into consideration that Chimanzi had already served four years’ imprisonment since his arrest in 2018.

“Furthermore, Chimanzi showed remorse and pleaded guilty from the beginning without wasting state resources,” said Sekgotodi.

Chimanzi and his company were sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment wholly suspended for five years on the condition that he is not found guilty and convicted for similar offences during the period of suspension.

The case against Moropane was postponed to May 17 following her hospitalisation due to an illness.

Nyuswa said the trio had acted in common purpose and had submitted fraudulent invoices to Eskom. Ngxola’s password and username were used to capture certain payments to Mandla Lines CC, which is a legitimate company registered in the name of Chimanzi. The three had shared the proceeds among themselves and were arrested after the police had received a tip-off.

Presenting the state’s case, the deputy director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Billy Moalusi, led evidence of several witnesses that proved that the invoices were fraudulent. The supervisor of two Eskom officials testified about the extent of the damage caused to the business. Their evidence was supported by the owner of Mandla Lines, who confirmed they had colluded and provided false invoices to Eskom.

Magistrate Sheila Msibi took into consideration the accused’s personal circumstances, the seriousness of the offence she is convicted of, and the interest of justice. She said Ngxola had had enough time to retract herself from the offence, instead, she waited until the whistleblower had reported the incident to Eskom. She sentenced the accused to 10 years’ imprisonment. Upon conviction, Ngxola applied for leave to appeal her conviction and sentence, which was dismissed.