Municipal official and co-accused nabbed for allegedly selling RDP houses in Mpumalanga
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Emalahleni Magistrate Court has granted R 10 000 bail to Emalahleni Municipality employee and co-accused following an arrest on theft, fraud and money laundering charges among others.
The trio, Vusumuzi Phakane (52) who is the official at the municipality, Justice Sambo (46) and Caroline Koloane (29) were arrested by members of the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team Mpumalanga on Wednesday for allegedly selling RDP houses around Emalahleni.
Hawks Spokesperson in the area Captain Dineo Sekgotodi said that the above accuseds even sold one RDP house two unsuspecting customers who scammed of their money.
“It is alleged that during October 2020 the accused Phakane who is employed by Municipality as Community Municipal Coordinator had access to information on RDP houses around Emalahleni and colluded with Sambo to sell those houses. The two approached Kgoalane and used her as the advertiser.”
“The unsuspecting victims would respond to the advert seen on social media and be directed by the syndicate to the Municipality offices to complete the agreement of sale forms” said Captain Sekgotodi.
Sekgotodi added that to make the sale seem legit, buyers would then further be advised to go to the lawyers for the final processing of the agreement.
“They would be told to make the payment into Sambo’s Nedbank account. The syndicate allegedly shared the money amongst themselves.”
Whilst the victim occupies the newly purchased house, other victims would also come and produce documents as proof of purchase for the same house. The victims lost approximately R300 000.00
Their alleged criminal acts ended when the matter was reported to the Hawks for investigation.
It was only during the investigation when it was established that the lawful owners of the houses are still alive. The suspects were linked to the allegations, traced and arrested.
Phakane and Kgoalane were released on R10 000 bail each while Sambo was remanded in custody because he has previous convictions.
Sambo will remain in police custody until 20 August 2021 for formal bail applications.
The Provincial Head of the Directorate For Priority Crime Investigation Major General Zodwa Mokoena warned the public about the scammers who are unlawfully selling the Government houses. She further reiterated that there is no way that the government houses can be sold.
She concluded by encouraging members of the public to report such types of incidents.
