Africa-Press – South-Africa. Mpumalanga farmers are fuming after the arrest of nine people in connection with R28 million fraud involving an organisation set up to help local farmers.
The National African Farmers Union (NAFU) in Mpumalanga described the looting as “an empowerment heist”.
Rainbow Chicken says it will ‘take weeks’ to meet customer demands following KZN floods
The nine accused, aged 33 to 45, appeared in Tonga Magistrate’s Court earlier this week where they were each released on R20 000 bail.
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Bonnie Nxumalo said the accused are all former RCL Foods employees.
RCL Foods has since told News24 that two were former Akwandze employees, while the rest were vendors.
The accused are linked to Akwandze Agricultural Finance (Pty) Ltd, a development finance organisation and a 50/50 joint venture between RCL Foods Sugar and Milling and Liguguletfu Cooperative Limited, which represents 1 200 small-scale growers, RCL said.
The accused face charges of fraud and money laundering after they allegedly created fictitious invoices to claim R28 million for services that were never rendered.
9 trustees arrested after allegedly looting R28m intended for Mpumalanga farmers
NAFU provincial president Jabu Mahlangu called for the dissolution of the organisation’s board and for asset forfeiture processes to go ahead to recoup the lost funds.
Mahlangu said:
Mahlangu believes a lack of transparency in the operation of the organisation contributed to the alleged fraud.
“When such massive funding is shrouded in secrecy, those closer to it could have developed a get rich scheme because farmers were possibly the last people on their mind when they established the trust and amassed resources,” he said.
The accused are expected to appear in court again on 13 July.
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
