{"id":28906,"date":"2022-04-10T20:09:24","date_gmt":"2022-04-10T20:09:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial"},"modified":"2022-04-10T20:22:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T20:22:31","slug":"mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","title":{"rendered":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City<\/p>\n

Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for the 2013<\/p>\n

funeral of late president Nelson Mandela, have pleaded not guilty to fraud,<\/p>\n

money laundering and the contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act<\/p>\n

(MFMA).”All the accused have pleaded not guilty, and<\/p>\n

on Monday, the prosecution will lead its first oral evidence, [and] the whole<\/p>\n

term, which will end on 10 June, has been set aside for this trial,”<\/p>\n

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said.Axed Eastern Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba (right) chatting to co-accused Zukiswa Ncitha, who is the former mayor of Buffalo City Metro, and their lawyer, advocate Michael Maseti.News24 PHOTO: Malibongwe Dayimani\/News24 The trial of suspended ANC Amatole regional<\/p>\n

chairperson Phumlani Mkolo; former Buffalo City speaker Luleka Simon-Ndzele;<\/p>\n

former mayor Zukiswa Ncitha; former deputy mayor Themba Tinta; former Eastern<\/p>\n

Cape health MEC Sindiswa Gomba; and the municipality’s former supply chain<\/p>\n

manager, Thembelani Sali is expected to be heard in the Eastern Cape High Court<\/p>\n

in Bhisho.<\/p>\n

READ | Mandela funeral scandal: Buffalo City stops paying legal<\/p>\n

fees of 4 former senior councillorsIt is alleged that the accused acted with a common<\/p>\n

purpose to defraud and manipulate municipal procurement processes. They<\/p>\n

allegedly manipulated the situation, so that the funds could be used for other<\/p>\n

purposes than what they were approved for.In January, advocate Mike Maseti told Judge Igna<\/p>\n

Stretch in the High Court in East London that his instructing law firm had<\/p>\n

withdrawn from representing Simon-Ndzele, Ncitha, Gomba and Sali after the<\/p>\n

metro’s decision to stop paying their legal billsEastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane fired Gomba on<\/p>\n

18 February after she was charged.<\/p>\n

We want to hear your views on the news. Subscribe to News24 to be part of the<\/p>\n

conversation in the comments section of this article.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for the 2013 funeral of late president Nelson Mandela, have pleaded not guilty to fraud, money laundering and the contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).”All the accused have pleaded not guilty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":28905,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[274,315,289,314,483,311,580,792,288,275],"class_list":["post-28906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-east-london","tag-eastern-cape","tag-fraud","tag-npa","tag-politics","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nMandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\"},\"wordCount\":329,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"courts\",\"crime\",\"east london\",\"eastern cape\",\"fraud\",\"npa\",\"politics\",\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\",\"name\":\"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":768,\"caption\":\"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial - South Africa","description":"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial","og_description":"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial","datePublished":"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial"},"wordCount":329,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-South-Africa","courts","crime","east london","eastern cape","fraud","npa","politics","South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial","name":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg","datePublished":"2022-04-10T20:09:24+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-10T20:22:31+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Seven people accused of swindling the Buffalo City Metro out of R10 million, and pretending the funds were meant for th ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2022\/04\/img-62533c5dcf720.jpg","width":1024,"height":768,"caption":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/mandela-funeral-scandal-seven-accused-plead-not-guilty-ahead-of-fraud-trial#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Mandela funeral scandal: Seven accused plead not guilty ahead of fraud trial"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}