Defence force clerk and five others in court after 'ghost workers' uncovered
A South African National Defence Force (SANDF) reserve force member, Thandile Ndevu, and five co-accused appeared in the Pretoria specialised commercial crimes court on Thursday to face charges of defrauding the force of R1.1m.
Ndevu, 33, is charged with 53 counts of fraud or theft and 53 counts of money laundering. Human resources clerk Khanya Ndevu, 29, and Thembisile Dlamini, 36, are each facing 11 counts of fraud or theft and 11 counts of money laundering. Avuyile Ndzuta, 30, is facing 10 counts of fraud or theft, and 10 counts of money laundering, and Yonelisa Gova, 30, is facing 21 counts fraud or theft and 21 counts of money laundering.
Thandile Ndevu, Khanya Ndevu and Ndzuta are cousins, while Dlamini and Loni are married. Gova is said to be friends with Thandile Ndevu.
Thandile Ndevu's responsibilities included calling reserve force employees for service, capturing on the system reserve force members who reported for duty as well as capturing their banking details on the system.
Between July 2018 and July 2019, it is alleged she captured on the system details of reserve force members as though they had reported for duty and replaced their banking details with those of her co-accused.
'This was discovered after one of the complainants whose details were used filed her tax return at Sars and discovered that she had two IRP5 forms she needed to submit instead of just the one she had taken.
'The complainant went to the SANDF and that's when the four ghost workers were discovered,' said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
The matter was postponed to August 15 for plea and trial.
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