A couple accused of fraudulently pocketing more than R3m of UIF money meant for poor workers allegedly tried to hide the money by distributing it among family members using different bank accounts.
Dorris Mashimbye,47, and her husband Masenyani Khosa,75, were arrested by the Hawks last month and released on R20,000 each bail in the Malumulele magistrate's court in Limpopo on October 26 for allegedly defrauding 240 former employees of their funds.
The couple allegedly claimed money from the UIF Covid-19 Temporary Employer/ Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) on behalf of their former employees totalling almost R3.2m. The employees were working on an Expanded Public Works Programme contract awarded to Mashimbye.
Last week the Limpopo High Court in Polokwane granted the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) a preservation order to freeze the bank accounts of the accused and their companies including an aftercare centre owned by Mashimbye. The preservation order was granted as part of attempts to recoup R3.1m fraudulently paid to the accounts.
According to the NPA, of the R3.1m, only R555,338.92 was left in the bank account of Mtititi Drop-in Centre when the preservation order was granted.
NPA spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said it was established that Mashimbye allegedly transferred portions of the money into other bank accounts held by herself, family members and numerous bank accounts of other individuals.
"The transfer of the funds into the accounts was done in an attempt to disguise the theft in that the reference numbers used was those of the erstwhile employees while the money was in fact paid into her accounts and those of her husband and her children,” she said.
Mashimbye and Khosa’s lawyer Cedric Baloyi said he was yet to receive a briefing from his clients on whether to oppose the order or not.
“We are aware of the order but I will be meeting my clients during the course of the week to receive their instructions,” he said.
Malabi-Dzhangi said investigations revealed that Mashimbye made fraudulent misrepresentation of facts to the UIF, in that she created a false impression that Mtititi Drop-in Centre battled through the worst effects of the national lockdown and was not able to pay the 240 employees.
The NPA said it also established that Mashimbye had terminated the contracts of the workers on March 15, prior to the announcement of the national lockdown.
Mashimbye was arrested on October 9, a week after her wedding to Khosa, a polygamist traditional healer with more than 20 wives.
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