A senior government official, her daughter and helper are under investigation for allegedly siphoning millions of rand meant for land claimants in the Eastern Cape.
Elite crime-fighting unit, the Hawks, launched the probe into allegations of fraud and mismanagement at the Eastern Cape’s regional claims office of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights in Beacon Bay in August last year.
The investigation was approved by rural development and land reform minister Mzwanele Nyhontso, who instructed his director-general, Mooketsa Ramasodi, to look into alleged corruption at the Beacon Bay office after complaints were lodged by land claimants.
The investigation has seen a senior official, whose identity is known to the Daily Dispatch, being placed on precautionary suspension since July 30. She was suspended a day after she had reportedly handed in her resignation, which was rejected by the department. Her suspension is with full pay.
The official is facing allegations ranging from fraud to impersonification, among others, for irregular payments amounting to more than R10m.
The official has been with the commission since October 1996 when she started as a low ranking officer and worked her way up to her current position.
Documents seen by the Dispatch reveal that the money was meant for claimants in Mxaxo location, AbaThembu, Skobeni, Dutyini, KwaLink, Mbhems community, Ncora, Ohlsen farm, Zozo, Mdlankomo-Moyeni, Umfanta, Thornhill (Ntabethemba) and Taweni, among many others.
Accounts records reveal that on May 31 2022, she and her daughter allegedly received R321,146 each into their Capitec accounts with identity documents of people born in 1975 and 1968.
The money was part of a payout meant for 55 families in Zozo location in Kwelerha. The first phase of the claim payout in Zozo amounted to R13.7m.
However, the 1975 identity number was used for a claim that allegedly made its way to the official's account.
The account also appears to have received payments from AbaThembu land claimants and Ohlsen farm claimants in Stutterheim between 2021 and September 2022 for a total of R613,976.
Meanwhile, the identity number used in her daughter’s accounts allegedly received a R112,916 payment in March 2023 meant for a family in the R193m Ncora land claim.
The family is alleged to have further received another combined R588,123 on the same day in September 2022 from the Ohlsen farm land claim.
In 2023, in another Capitec account belonging to her daughter, payments worth R749,866 were allegedly paid between May 2023 and July 2023 from the Ncora, Mdlankomo-Moyeni and Zozo location land claims with identity numbers from 1962,1965 and 1954.
The latest payments were allegedly directed to an Absa account belonging to her helper, a 48-year-old woman, who allegedly received R110,947 in February 2024 from the Mbhems community land claim meant to benefit 65 households.
This is even though the Hawks had already started their investigation and allegedly briefly held the official’s laptop for investigation in December 2023.
In August 2021, the Absa account had allegedly received the same R110,947 settled for the AbaThembu land claims, while five months earlier she allegedly pocketed R214,097 for the Mxaxo land claim.
All the transactions in the Absa account had different identity numbers, with beneficiaries born on dates ranging from 1946 to 1993.
Three more acquaintances who received payouts are being investigated for misappropriated funds.
The Dispatch contacted the official for comment, but her phone went unanswered and questions were ignored.
Land reform and rural development spokesperson Nontembiso Kgatla confirmed the suspension of one senior official and said they expected more officials to be included in the investigation.
“It is probable that there will be further suspensions. At this stage they are not revealing the number because it is under investigation.”
On the day of the official's suspension, Nyhontso released a statement giving approval for the immediate suspension of officials implicated in alleged financial irregularities.
He said the chief land claims commissioner, Nomfundo Ntloko, had already initiated a process to address and rectify weaknesses in the standard operating procedures that were exploited in the alleged irregular activity.
“Fraud is very serious and because the matter is under investigation I don’t want to say much. I gave them the go-ahead for the investigation.”
In August, the Hawks announced that the department was conducting an investigation into four employees at the land claims commission — a senior official and three juniors.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela confirmed the investigation was at an advanced stage, but would not be drawn into commenting on specifics.
The Dispatch previously reported about how historically displaced families have been waiting to receive their payouts, as the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces struggled with a backlog of unprocessed claims.
In the 2023/2024 financial year, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights paid R979,237,468 for claims in the Eastern Cape.
A total of 17,638 claims were lodged with the commission before the cut-off date of December 1998 and by March 31,17,206 claims had been settled.
For the 2024/2025 financial year, the provincial commission had an annual performance plan target of 60 claims for settlement and 45 for finalisation. There are more than 400 claims still outstanding.
Each household would receive a settled amount and will be shared among the families.
Despite this, some families continue to wait for their payouts.
Ncise community member in Mthatha, Zandisile Mabodli, 73, who lodged a claim in 2018, said he received a partial payment from his account in 2021 and was worried he might die without receiving the remainder.
“I am not sure how many people are in the same situation as mine,” he said.
“These claims were being followed by parents who have died and now it’s mostly children and grandchildren who follow up.
“I wrote to the East London office in 2021 and I received an amount but it was not the full amount.”
Meanwhile, Macleantown land claimant Bonisile Grey said the investigations into the office were long overdue.
“I am happy and I even avail myself to assist in these investigations,” Grey said.
“There was a lot of corruption in the processes for the Mpongo community which was the first land claim recorded in the country.
“People who are not even from here benefited and the original inhabitants were not even considered.”
Provincial agriculture and land reform MEC Nonceba Kontsiwe said she was made aware of the investigation when she queried the Ntabethemba land claims.
Kontsiwe has been following up on the claims since 2020 during her time as an MPL.
“People have been fighting this for years and there have been payments but some people have not received it. I was told the payments will be done in three phases.”
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