The East London based Serious Corruption Investigation team of the Hawks ensured that Siyabulela Kima (43) appeared before East London Magistrates court on 03 October 2023 for the allegations of fraud. Kima was arrested by team of the Hawks on the same day of the court appearance. Kima was a taxi driver who was transporting teachers from their homes to their respective schools.
On 04 February 2020, it is alleged that Kima was a driver of the Toyota Avanza that was involved in an accident at R406 road near Qombolo junction, Centane in the Eastern Cape. The reports revealed that on the said day Kima was transporting the educators from Centane to Butterworth. The reports further indicated that all passengers in the vehicle sustained injuries and as a result were transported to hospital for treatment.
It is further reported that Kima approached certain Attorneys to assist him in lodging a claim against Road Accident Fund (RAF) and it was lodged successfully in respect of him. After lodging the claim, RAF conducted its internal investigation and discovered that the version that was provided by the accused person about the accident was totally different from his passengersā. Kima allegedly falsified his claim form by misrepresentation, stating that the Toyota quantum with unknown registration overtook a truck forced his Avanza off the road. Kima indicated that in avoiding a head-on collision, his vehicle swerved away from the quantum and overturned. While the allegations from his passengers indicated that Kima who had epileptic seizures, therefore the accident was caused by him being unconscious. However, RAF reportedly picked up some discrepancies due to the conflicting versions of the passengersā and the accused. RAF was nearly prejudiced by Kima an amount of R8.3 million. Then the matter was referred to the Hawks for further investigation.
The suspect made his first court appearance at East London Magistratesā court on 03 October 2023 and was released on R500 bail. The matter was then remanded to 27 October 2023 for the case to be transferred to Regional court.
Content retrieved from: https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=48749.
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