A former SABC marketing executive appeared in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Bellville, Cape Town, on Tuesday for the sixteenth time.
Thembani Mazaleni, 38, faces multiple extortion charges (blackmail), involving alleged “kick backs”.
He has not yet been asked to plead, but is expected to do so next month, when his trial starts.
He also faces two counts of fraud, involving R43 080 that he allegedly duped the SABC into paying.
He appeared before magistrate Sabrina Sonnenberg, who scheduled his trial for February 24.
According to the charge sheet, Mazaleni’s duties included the verification of invoices submitted for payment by the SABC’s service providers.
One of the service providers, Albertina Jaxa, did translations for the SABC in any of the country’s 11 official languages.
According to the charge sheet, Mazaleni started borrowing money from her, but failed to repay the loans.
Prosecutor Ezmarelda Johnson alleges that Mazaleni manipulated the loans into “kick backs” that she paid him for work allocated to her by the broadcaster.
In this manner he avoided having to pay back the loans, it is alleged.
Johnson alleges that Mazaleni threatened that she would lose her contract with the SABC if she “blew the whistle” on him.
Mazaleni’s alleged scheme also involved false invoices for work she had not done, for submission to her auditors.
Johnson alleges that he extorted a total of R282 000 from Jaxa, between the years 2007 and 2011.
It is alleged that Mazaleni also blackmailed Jaxa into fraudulently billing the SABC for work not done, for additional kick backs.
Mazaleni faces 78 counts of extortion involving R282 000, and two of fraud involving a total of R43 080.
Source: iol
