Taxi operator gets jailed to trying to swindle Dept of Education tender

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Polokwane Special Commercial Crimes Court has handed down a eleven years jail for a taxi operator who allegedly swindled money from an unsuspecting tender bidder in Limpopo with the Department of Education.

Hawks Spokesperson Captain Matimba Maluleke said that the 40 years old Gibson Thobakgale was a local taxi driver in 2018, and he was supposed to earn his salary from transporting the commuters. But he became greedy and decided to swindle an unsuspecting victim.

“The victim had applied for a tender that was advertised by the Department of Education to provide security services at the schools around Limpopo Province. After he had submitted his tender documents, he received a call from someone who claimed to be an official from Department of Education demanding R200 000-00 gratification in order to award him a tender.”

“The victim decided to contact the department in order to verify if indeed there was such person working with them. Unfortunately the department had confirmed that the accused’s name was not in their database and the victim immediately notified the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation members.”

Maluleke added that Thobakgale was arrested on November 26 same year following an undercover operation led by the Hawks at the service station near the N1 North highway.

He was due to receive the requested gratification and was immediately after receiving R10 000-00 of the R200 000-00 he had demanded.

Making his final appearance in court, Thobakgale was sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud and six years imprisonment for corruption. The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.