University of Fort Hare former employee together with her son out on bail for fraud
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University of Fort Hare Residence Manager has been released on bail following court appearance together with her son and his company facing fraud charges.
It is said according to court papers that the 68 years old Thobeka Portia Heshula and the 41 years old son, Ngcwengo Collin Uhuru Heshula, defrauded the institution using the son’s company Heshula Solutions CC which saw the university losing money mounting to more that R1,5 million.
They made brief court appearance at Alice Magistrates’ Court facing 53 counts of fraud, forgery and uttering.
The mother is accused of awarding her a tender in her capacity as the official responsible for appointment of service providers and authorisation of payments to those service providers.
“It is alleged that Thobeka Heshula, who has since retired from UFH, had the firsthand knowledge of tenders and contracts which the university needed to procure. Ngcwengo Heshula, with the advice of his mother, allegedly generated three quotations, aimed at creating misrepresentation that they were from three separate entities. The quotations were allegedly issued under the names of either fictitious entities or entities fronting under separate names.”
“The generation of these quotations were calculated to ensure that Heshula Solutions CC or entities with ties to it, would be appointed as the favourable service provider to UFH, as they would appear to have provide the cheapest quotation. The accused also allegedly authorised payments of invoices submitted by alleged entities for services that were not rendered. The wrongful and fraudulent scheme was allegedly conducted by the accused, in the period between July 2013 and March 2019.”
The matter has also has been transferred to the East London Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 12 March 2024.
