POLOKO TAU
A SOWETO policeman is facing charges of robbery after he allegedly used a blue light and his police identity card to rob two men of about R150 000 in church donations.
A robbery victim told the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday that Nhlanhla Ngwenya, 47, an officer at Diepkloof police station, and Thamsanqa Matshoba, 33, had posed as police officers during the robbery in August last year.
The two accused were earlier seen sitting together in the public gallery, but Matshoba’s case was heard separately later, after he pleaded guilty to theft. He implicated Ngwenya in the robbery, in which money belonging to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) was stolen.
Matshoba said Ngwenya had invited him to “do some job and make some money”, and they drove together in a VW Polo to the Joburg CBD on August 30. In the inner city, Ngwenya flashed blue lights and stopped a Nissan Navara.
Matshoba said Ngwenya spoke to the Navara’s occupants, then asked him to drive the two men’s car and follow the Polo.
He told the court they drove out of the CBD to the south, where Ngwenya searched the Navara and transferred bags of money into the Polo before they left.
Matshoba was expected back in court on September 9 for sentencing and was expected to testify against Ngwenya, who pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
A pastor at the UCKG, Louis Villa, told the court yesterday he had been driving the church’s Navara together with fellow pastor Vagner Santana dos Santos when a white Polo stopped next to him.
“I stopped at a robot and then (Matshoba) rolled the window and asked me why I skipped a red robot. I said I didn’t skip a red robot,” Villa said.
“They introduced themselves as police officers, and their car had a blue light on it. (Ngwenya) flashed his police identity, saying they wanted to speak to us, and that was when we opened our doors.”
Villa said the two men told them they were looking for a car similar to the one they were driving and told them they were going to be taken to a police station.
“Dos Santos drove in the Polo with (Ngwenya), while Matshoba drove the Navara with me on the passenger seat. Matshoba took my cellphone; he had a gun,” he said.
“We were driving very fast out of town and towards Southgate. Then I realised the Polo didn’t have a rear registration number plate…
“We then turned into some secondary road and stopped in a bush, where Ngwenya said to us ‘where is the money?’”
“He had a gun in his hand all the time, which for me was life-threatening. He then searched the Navara and found bags of money, which was removed and put in the Polo,” he said.
“I realised that they were not paying any attention (to) me as they took the money… I ran for my life into the bush.”
Villa said he later caught up with his colleague, who told him the two men had fled with the church money.
Meanwhile, sources within the police said Ngwenya was still working as a police officer.