The East London Regional Court convicted four former municipal officials yesterday, 3 October of fraud and contravention of the Municipal Financial Management Act (MFMA): Misiwe Phyllis Mpahlwa (54), former Ngqushwa Local Municipal Manager; Tinus Matthysen (66), former acting Chief Financial Officer; Mkhuseli Wiseman Mxekezo (49), former Director of Corporate Services; and Busisiwe Mfunda (37), former Mayor’s Secretary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four officials were arrested by the East London Serious Commercial Crime Investigation of the Hawks in 2021 and were each released on R1,000 bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to a Hawks spokesperson, Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, their sentencing emanated from an incident where Mxekezo unlawfully and negligently authorised irregular expenditure by signing a memorandum for a Christmas event scheduled for 12 December 2019, without any procurement processes being followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Matthysen subsequently failed to prevent the irregular, unauthorised, and fruitless expenditure by approving payments to service providers without requisite documentation, even though he was officially on leave.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mhlakuvana added that he further complied with an unlawful instruction from the Municipal Manager at the time, Mpahlwa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Mfunda, who initiated the memorandum requesting procurement of goods and services, deliberately sourced quotations from fictitious service providers for her personal benefit, bypassing the municipality’s supply chain management processes.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mhlakuvana said that Mpahlwa, as the Accounting Officer, sanctioned the irregular transaction, facilitating the unlawful payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“During the audit, discrepancies were identified and the matter was referred to the Hawks for a thorough probe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The investigation revealed that the quartet intentionally colluded in orchestrating the unlawful deviation of the procurement process for personal enrichment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Their unlawful conduct resulted in losses to the municipality of more than R273 000, money intended to fund a Christmas programme for the elderly residents of the Peddie community.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After numerous court appearances, the East London Regional Court sentenced the quartet on 3 October 2025 to three years’ direct imprisonment, or each to pay a fine of R120 000.00.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
East London Regional Court sentenced four former Ngqushwa municipal officials to three years’ imprisonment or R120,000 fines for fraud involving fictitious service providers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":8563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_yoast_wpseo_linkdex":"75","_yoast_wpseo_content_score":"30","_yoast_wpseo_inclusive_language_score":"60","_yoast_wpseo_is_cornerstone":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"Former municipal officials sentenced for fraud in East London","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"Four former municipal officials sentenced for fraud and violating the Municipal Financial Management Act. 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