Cape Town - The two City officials and their accomplices, accused of selling municipal plots, have made their first appearance in Blue Downs Magistrate’s Court.
Gerrit Engelbrecht, 56, Neil Welman, 51, and co-accused Lennox Ntsodo and Nombongo Bidi were arrested on Wednesday after an investigation that had been running since July 2022.
They face fraud charges in that they unlawfully pretended to be employees of the City authorised to sell plots of land for R100000 in Mfuleni.
“(Ntsodo and Bidi) were not employed by the City of Cape Town. None of them had the legal authority to sell the plots and/or houses belonging to the City of Cape Town, nor to pocket and share the money among themselves to the detriment of the complainants to the total loss of R860000,” the charge sheet stated.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) regional spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said Ntsodo and Bidi appeared on Thursday on a charge of fraud.
On Friday they were joined by accused three and four who are City of Cape Town employees.”
City’s Safety and Security Mayco Member JP Smith said in June a resident complained that they had paid money to a Human Settlements Department official for them to receive preference for plots being made available for affordable housing in Mfuleni Ext2.
“The City immediately tasked SSIU members to investigate.
“It gathered the needed evidence and registered the various criminal cases with the SAPS, before approaching the courts to gain access to the bank records of the staff who were implicated.
“Armed now with sufficient evidence, on October 18 both staff members were arrested on charges of fraud, along with two other suspects.
“All four suspects appeared in court on Friday and will remain in custody until October 26 for their formal bail application hearing.”