POLICE FLEET MANAGER SENTENCED FOR FRAUD
The Mthatha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Fumanekile Gaba (43) to eight years imprisonment for defrauding the South African Police Service (SAPS) to the amount of R110 000. Gaba was employed as the fleet manager at the SAPS Local Criminal Record Centre when he committed the crime between September 2019 and August 2020. He used a fleet fuel card belonging to a scrapped vehicle to fill fuel into his vehicle, and vehicles belonging to cash-paying motorists at the Qunu Service Centre.
Internal auditing within SAPS picked up that the card was still in use even though the vehicle to which it was allocated had been boarded. Subsequent investigations revealed that Gaba had been colluding with a petrol attendant at the filling station, and he was arrested. During trial, he pleaded not guilty. However, he changed his plea to that of guilty after Senior State Advocate Mthuthuzeli Rangula led the evidence of the petrol attendant, who became the state witness in accordance with Section 204 of the Criminal Procedure Act. Video footage from the filling station, showing Gaba participating in the scam from his vehicle, was also submitted as evidence.
The court agreed with the prosecution’s submission that Gaba’s change of plea was not a sign of remorse. It found that Gaba occupied a position of trust that he betrayed, and as a SAPS employee he was supposed to uphold the highest form of honesty, but he chose to commit the offence out of greed.
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo, commended the prosecutor and the investigating team for securing the conviction and sentence.
