Businessman Sentenced for Eskom Fraud in Nelspruit

The Nelspruit Specialised Commercial Crimes Court has recently sentenced a businessman for fraud amounting to R2.6m. On Wednesday, March 1, Michael Chimanzi (56), the sole director of Chimanzi Investments, was charged with fraud, theft and money laundering according to Lowvelder.

He was tried separately from his co-accused, Eskom employees Nwabisa Ngxola and Cinderella Moropane, who are currently out on bail, according to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation’s (Hawks) spokesperson, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi. In December, all three were found guilty of these charges.

According to Sekgotodi, Ngxola and Moropane had colluded with Chimanzi in November 2013 and submitted fraudulent invoices to Eskom for services that were never rendered. These fraudulent transactions were channelled to Chimanzi Investments’ business account, which resulted in Eskom being prejudiced out of R2.6m.

Chimanzi had been in custody since his initial arrest in 2018. During his sentencing, the court considered that he had already served four years and had shown remorse and pleaded guilty from the beginning without wasting state resources.

Accordingly, Chimanzi and his company were sentenced to eight years imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, on the condition that he was not found guilty and convicted for similar offences during that time.

Meanwhile, Ngxola and Moropane’s case has been postponed to May 2 for sentencing, and their bail was extended.

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