Nelson Mandela Bay municipality admin clerk convicted on fraud charges
In her capacity as the central administrative clerk at the municipality, Stephanie Reeners, aged 48, fraudulently accepted payments for new building plans between November 2014 and June 2017.
CAPE TOWN, March 24 (ANA) – An administrative clerk from the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality will know her fate in May after she was convicted on several counts of fraud in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in the city of Gqebera (previously Port Elizabeth).
In her capacity as the central administrative clerk at the municipality, Stephanie Reeners, aged 48, accepted payments for new building plans between November 1, 2014 and June 30, 2017, Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) provincial spokeswoman Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said.
Reeners pretended to be a building inspector and in so doing received tax invoices meant for the treasury division, which she was not part of.
The municipality was defrauded of R640,607.36 (US$43,178) as a result, Mgolodela said. Reeners was found guilty of all charges brought against her on Tuesday.
Mgolodela said Hawks’ head, Major General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya had commended the Serious Commercial Crime investigation team for its successful efforts in such cases.
The matter against Reeners has been postponed and sentencing proceedings against her are set to comment on May 4.
In a separate incident, a 49-year-old woman was granted bail in the East London magistrate’s court on Tuesday on charges of dealing drugs to children.
Brondwynn Grobler was arrested last Friday, with members of the East London Serious Organised Crime Investigation team and the South African Narcotics Enforcement assisting the South African Police Service’s Mdantsane Cluster Crime Intelligence Gathering unit, Mgolodela said.
The arrest came after a concerned parent reached out for assistance, claiming a local woman was selling cannabis to children.
In response to this information, the law enforcement agencies conducted an operation between March 12 and 19.
Grobler is expected back in the same court on May 4, after her case was postponed for investigators to finalise their probe.
– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa