Who still remembers Zakumi?
2010 was a magical year for South Africa, when the country hosted the FIFA Soccer World Cup. It was also a time when people’s businesses were booming because of the influx of tourists coming to the country.
But it was also a time when crime was rife because there were people who wanted to take advantage of the situation. It is a particularly sad state of affairs when police officers, who are expected to uphold the law, are the ones committing the crime.
These crimes include a case of nine suspects facing charges relating to R47 million Soccer World Cup fraud and corruption.
The accused, including former KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner, General Mmamonnye Ngobeni; Colonel Navin Madhoe, former police captain Aswin Narainpershad and businessman, Toshan Panday. They face 275 counts of racketeering offences and fraud, corruption, money laundering and forgery allegedly committed between March 2009 and April 2010.
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It is the state’s case that the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) was allegedly ignored in procuring accommodation for members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) during the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
The other accused are Toshan’s mother, Arevenda Panday, his wife, Privisha Panday, his sister, Kajal Ishwarkumar; his brother-in-law, Seveesh Maharaj Ishwarkumar and his personal assistant, Tasleem Rahiman.
The state alleges Toshan’s family of being party to a common purpose with him and others to defraud SAPS, through their association with entities which were used to score lucrative contracts from SAPS.
The policemen who are accused in this matter face accusations of colluding with Toshan to receive contracts from the KZN police for an amount of over R47,3 million in fraudulent and irregular tender procedures.
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These are the five entities that were controlled by Toshan that were paid the money by the SAPS:
Goldcoast R39 336 283
Valotone R3 515 704
Bravosat R2 079 469
Kaseev Traders R1 552 019
Unite Mzansi R863 122
The Durban High Court has postponed the matter to 25 July 2024 for pre-trial conferencing.
