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04 News | 26 May 2023
Poli calls for unity in Sanco Free State
By Thys Khiba
The provincial coordinator of the
SA National Civic Organisation
(SANCO) in Free State, Gift
Poli has called on all members
of the Sanco in the province to unite and
show commitment in building a civic
organisation.
On 13 May, the SACP and the COSATU
in the province led by Bheki Stofile
and Monyatso Mahlatsi assembled all
existing factions of the civic organisation
in the province in effort to unite the civic
organisation, in Bloemfontein at Hillside
B&B Conference Hall.
Poli has stressed the need to unite the
organisation’s factions and praised the
move by the SACP and COSATU to unite
SANCO in the province.
“…in an unprecedented move assembled
all existing factions of SANCO in the Free
State for purposes of unifying the civic
movement in the Free State province,”
said Poli.
As the civic organisation is expected to
host the provincial elective conference
in 90 days, the three and all existing
factions of the Sanco were discouraged
from existing. These factions have been
in and out of Gauteng High Court since
their inception.
“The move to unite SANCO was at first
met with much resistance, this resistance
was inspired mainly by a cabal within the
civic movement that enjoys a camaraderie
of looting organisational resources, this
cabal enjoyed the fragmented state of
SANCO such that it would continue
looting unbothered,” said Poli.
Poli has admitted that the
fragmentation of the
organisation has
giving criminals an
opportunity to use
Sanco for personal
gains.
“The
fragmentation of
SANCO has left
many communities
without a voice,
it has hampered
the progress of our
social cohesion it has
also opened space for
opportunist to use the plight of
our people for selfish material gain,” Poli
said.
Meanwhile, the organisation has taken a
decision to appoint provincial task teams
(PTT) that will lead the project of an
elective conference in three months.
Godfrey Mayekiso has been appointed
as the Convener, with Musa
Tsholeka and McDonald
Donald as the 1st deputy
Convener and 2nd
deputy Convener.
Gift Poli has been
appointed as the
Coordinator with
Dudu Nkosi as
deputy Coordinator,
G e r m a n
Ramathebane as
Fundraiser and Mxolosi
Pali as Organiser. These
include 37 additional
members who are part of the PTT.
The PTT is expected to disband all
regions and formulate united regional
task teams. The names of the additional
members will be announced as soon as
the organisation is done with all regional
task teams.
“The PTT hit the ground running with
the office of the Provincial Coordinator
dissolving structures in both Mangaung
and Fezile Dabi Regions appointing RTTs
towards a united SANCO structure.
“This has been welcomed with both hands
by comrades from the respective regions.
With the positive response received from
meetings that were recently held in Waaihoek
in Bloemfontein and Mosipidi hall
in Parys, the office of the Provincial
Coordinator will be visiting both Thabo
Mofutsanyana and Lejweleputswa
regions in this upcoming weekend to
repeat the exercise that was done in
Mangaung and Fezile Dabi, Xhariep
region will receive attention immediately
after Thabo Mofutsanyana.”
Female
suspect
arrested in
North West
R5M fraud
case
Dineo Precious Powane has
appeared in the Rustenburg
Magistrates’ Court as a suspect
in multimillion rand fraud case involving
Zambian accountant Evan Mutale.
This comes after she was arrested earlier
this week on Monday, 22 May.
Powane was granted R3000 bail and is
facing three charges of money laundering.
She was linked to a case relating to Mutale
(44), who is facing 21 charges of fraud
and three alternative charges of money
laundering, after his arrest by the SAPS’
Provincial Commercial Crime Unit on 12
April 2023, in Rustenburg.
The 44-year-old accountant was charged
for stealing over R 5 million, from Jaira
Constructions and Projects.
Mutale was responsible for managing
accounts, payroll, and loading payments.
The two are expected to appear at the
Specialised Commercial Crimes Court,
sitting in Rustenburg on 07 June 2023, for
pre-trial conferencing.
According to the North West spokesperson
for the NPA, Henry Mamothame, Mutale
is out on R10 000 bail.
“It is alleged that between September
2019 and November 2020, Mutale
fraudulently transferred money into an
account belonging to Powane, who has no
links to the company but is known to him.
“These transactions were allegedly done
under the pretense of paying a service
provider for services rendered to the
company. In the process, he deceived his
supervisor to make final authorisations
for money to be transferred into Powane’s
bank account,” said Mamothame.
After investigations were conducted, it was
revealed that some of this money was later
transferred to his bank account. Based on
these revelations, the state took a decision
to charge him for money laundering.