- A Mbombela municipality employee and his two accomplices have been sentenced for corruption and extortion.
- The three men extorted a complainant after finding that he had tampered with the meter box at his house.
- After soliciting several bribes, the complainant eventually reported the matter to police, who arrested the three men in an undercover operation.
A Mbombela municipality employee and his two accomplices have been sentenced to 10 years in prison each after being found guilty of corruption and extortion.
Dino Siboza, 43, worked for the municipality while his accomplices – Ernest Mamba, 33, and Nkate Ngcobo, 32 – worked for a company contracted by the municipality to perform electricity meter readings.
They were convicted and sentenced in the Nelspruit Regional Court on Friday.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the men went to the complainant's house in December 2018 to inspect a meter box and found that it had been tampered with.
NPA spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said:
"It appeared that the first amount was not enough, as they then demanded two other payments [of] R3 000 [and] R15 000, but the complainant paid only R3 000.
"When the complainant realised there was no end to the demand for money by the accused, he then went to the police to report the incident."
Nyuswa said police then set up an undercover operation to catch the perpetrators.
Siboza and Mamba contacted the complainant and arranged to meet at McDonald's in Mbombela to hand over the money.
"Upon arrival, they were given three envelopes containing R5 000 per envelope. After the meeting, the police approached them, and [they] were subsequently arrested," Nyuswa said.
While the three men pleaded not guilty, the State presented evidence of the undercover operation, copies of the monies used for the trap, video footage and a statement from a man who works for the complainant.
Nyuswa said:
"The accused were subsequently convicted on a charge of corruption and extortion."
During sentencing proceedings, the Mbombela municipality said an audit found that it had suffered "financial damage" of more than R120 000 during the 2018-'19 financial year due to corrupt activities, said Nyuswa.
Director of Public Prosecutions in Mpumalanga advocate Nkebe Kanyane applauded the prosecutor and the police officers "who ensured that the corruption was rooted out".