This time it’s not due to the former mayor’s ill health.
In order to allow Mohau Shuping time to appoint and consult with his new legal representative, the Ventersdorp Regional Court postponed the fraud and theft trial against Kgotso Khumalo(52), the former Executive Mayor of J.B. Marks Local Municipality, Mohau Shuping and Cyril Hendry to 14 April 2023. The trial has been postponed on numerous occasions owing to Khumalo’s ill health which has since improved, rendering him fit to continue with the trial.
According to Henry Mamothame, NPA Regional Spokesperson (North West Division), the three are out on warning and they were cautioned not to interfere with the state witnesses. “Khumalo, together with Shuping and Hendry, is facing eight charges of theft and defrauding municipal funds, and they have pleaded not guilty to all charges,” Mamothame confirmed.
During the start of the trial,the prosecution led its main prosecution witness, Willem Coetzee, who was introduced to the court as a lawyer from Willem Coetzee Attorneys, a law firm that was a member of a panel of lawyers appointed by the JB Marks Local Municipality to manage its legal and financial mandates through a trust fund. He testified that the defendant instructed him, as acting chairman of the panel, to make payments to several accounts on various occasions.
The North-West University and the Programme for Community Development are alleged to have paid millions into Coetzee’s law firm for use in municipal projects. “The attorney was then given instructions to effect various payments, including an R208 000 mayoral committee contribution, towards the funeral of the late MEC for Agriculture, Duma Ndleleni, who passed away in November 2018,” Mamothame explained.
He told the court he was also ordered to pay two sums of R35 000 to Kagisano Funerals for the same funeral, which the funeral home allegedly never received. Another R32 000 was allegedly paid to Roche Trading for services rendered at the funeral. An amount of R210 000 was also reported as payment to, Langford and Sons Projects (PTY) Ltd, for a football tour of Australia undertaken by Hendry.
However, it emerged that R200 000 was paid directly into the account of one of the defendants, and of this, an amount in excess of R64 000 was paid to an institution where a relative of Khumalo was a student. Coetzee also testified how Khumalo instructed him to pay two non-governmental organizations (NGOs) an amount of R50 000 each, which was a loan for repayment. He later obtained another account to which he transferred an amount of R100 000 instead of the R50 000 to each NGO.
Coetzee told the court that he was no longer a member of the panel following the investigation into the case.
The state intends to call more witnesses to prove that false invoices were created to make further fictitious payments to defraud and steal funds meant for community development in the J.B. Marks Local Municipality.
