A taxi driver, Ngoanametwa Gibson Thobakgale (40) was sentenced for swindling an unsuspecting tender bidder by the Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 14 December 2022.
Thobakgale was a local taxi driver in 2018, and he was supposed to earn his salary from transporting the commuters. But he became greedy and decided to swindle an unsuspecting victim.
The victim had applied for a tender that was advertised by the Department of Education to provide security services at the schools around Limpopo Province.
After he had submitted his tender documents, he received a call from someone who claimed to be an official from Department of Education demanding R200 000-00 gratification in order to award him a tender.
The victim decided to contact the department in order to verify if indeed there was such person working with them.
Unfortunately the department had confirmed that the accused’s name was not in their database and the victim immediately notified the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation members.
On 26 November 2018, the Hawks conducted an undercover operation that resulted in the arrest of Thobakgale in Polokwane at the service station near the N1 North highway immediately after receiving R10 000-00 of the R200 000-00 he had demanded.
Thobakgale was sentenced to five years imprisonment for fraud and six years imprisonment for corruption.
The sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
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