Three former Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court officials were given suspended sentences of six years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay back R60 000 each for their involvement in maintenance funds fraud. They were implicated in a scheme that deprived beneficiaries of financial support for more than a year. The East London Serious Commercial Crime Investigation (SCCI) and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) confirmed that Cynthia Nompumelelo Nobangule, Vuyolwethu Mashologu and Nomathembe Gwanqana were convicted and sentenced.
This occurred before the Zwelitsha Regional Court on 30 January 2026. According to the Hawks, the case stemmed from an internal probe by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. This happened after “material irregularities” were detected in the Zwelitsha Magistrate’s Court maintenance trust account.
The account had become substantially overdrawn, triggering concerns about “internal controls, fiduciary compliance, and the safeguarding of funds earmarked for vulnerable maintenance beneficiaries,” the Hawks said. A comprehensive forensic and financial investigation followed, uncovering a systemic pattern of fraud dating back more than two decades. Investigators established that between April 2003 and July 2004, the accused “acted either individually or in concert with a common criminal purpose” to defraud the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
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“The accused systematically manipulated maintenance payment schedules, fraudulently reflecting that lawful beneficiaries had received maintenance payments,” the Hawks said. In carrying out the scheme, the trio allegedly abused their official roles as checking officers, cashiers, counter clerks and sub-accountants. They “appended their signatures in respective official capacities… thereby falsely certifying that the payments had been properly verified, approved and lawfully disbursed in the ordinary execution of their duties”.
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