Cape Town - The Elliot Post Office officials from the Eastern Cape and their spouses who were arrested by members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) have been granted bail in the Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
Former branch manager, Palesa Aviwe Sigaqa, 37, her spouse and former police officer, Masonwabe Madlinggozi, 40, former Post Office teller Busisiwe Geleba, 35 and her husband, 50-year-old former teacher Luyanda Brighton Geleba face charges of fraud and money laundering.
The group is alleged to have been stealing grant funds from the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) from 2020 until 2021.
According to provincial Hawks spokesperson, Captain Yolisa Mgolodela, the group were arrested on Tuesday by the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team in Queenstown.
“Information was received by Crime Intelligence and handed over to the Hawks for extensive probing.
“The investigations revealed that the Post Office officials orchestrated the transactions by omitting, and inflating under accounting entries on the systems in place to create an opportunity to siphon cash that was meant to pay Sassa beneficiaries.
“It is further alleged that ghost beneficiaries were also created. The Inter Grant Payment System (IGPS) and the accounting system were manipulated in this fashion,” Mgolodela said.
She said on July 13, 2021, during the collection of evidence, cash to the value of more than R139 000 was found at the suspects’ disposal either in vehicles or in their homes.
“Further probing revealed that a total of more than R10.2 million was siphoned from the coffers of Sassa, hence their arrest on September 27, 2022,” Mgolodela said.
After a brief first appearance, the group was all granted R3 000 bail.
The matter has been postponed until November 25.