MBABANE – As Eswatini Railway intensifies its investigations into the theft of fuel by a purported syndicate, more properties allegedly obtained through proceeds of the crime are being discovered.
The alleged mastermind, Ncamiso Fakudze, who was employed as a fuel attendant and reportedly feared by some of his colleagues for allegedly using muti, is poised to lose four bedsitters at Manzini Green Field to the State. The bedsitters, according to the director of public prosecutions (DPP) are proceeds of criminal activities committed at Eswatini Railways.
On Friday, Judge Titus Mlangeni of the High Court granted an order against Fakudze and Cebile Siphilile Fakudze, in an ex parte application by the DPP, which prohibits anyone with knowledge of it from dealing with four bedsitters at Manzini Green Field Stand number. The bedsitters are believed to be the proceeds of unlawful activity or an instrumentality of a scheduled offence under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), 2018.
The application was brought ex parte, meaning without notice to the opposing party, as Section 42 (2) of the POCA allows for this when there is sufficient information that the property is an instrumentality of a scheduled offence or the proceeds of unlawful activities. The court found that there were reasonable grounds to believe the property was linked to criminal activities.
The case is a result of the ongoing financial investigation into the theft of fuel from Eswatini Railways. The investigation was sparked by an incident on August 8, 2013, when a train driver named Ncamiso Masuku was arrested for fuel theft. Subsequent investigations revealed a large-scale organised criminal enterprise allegedly run by Fakudze, who was employed as a fuel attendant at the time.
According to affidavits from other railway employees, Fakudze recruited them to participate in the scheme. The scheme involved partially delivering fuel to the company and selling the remainder to illicit purchasers, or even diverting entire truckloads of fuel. Fakudze, according to the DPP’s application, would take over shifts to facilitate the thefts. He is alleged to have paid his accomplices in cash, which prevented them from knowing the full extent of the theft and allowed him to retain most of the profits.
The investigation revealed that Fakudze engaged in elaborate money laundering activities to hide the proceeds from the fuel theft. Fakudze’s financial statements show that he had very little income, with an average monthly salary of E5 783.78. However, he was involved in multiple large-scale construction projects that were paid for in cash, including the double-storey commercial property at Mpaka and the four bedsitters at Manzini Green Field, the court heard. The property at Manzini Green Field was a vacant plot purchased in 2021 with a cash payment of E120 000, which was allegedly exchanged inside a car. There is no record of Fakudze withdrawing this amount from his bank accounts, said the investigators.
The DPP also submitted that the recent advertisement of the property for sale on Facebook by M Global Properties for E680 000 was a sign that Fakudze was trying to dispose of the property after learning of the investigation.
The investigation, according to Melusi Lukhele, Prosecuting Counsel under the DPP, trained through the Asset Recovery Network of Southern Africa/UNODC on Asset Recovery, began after financial investigators, while tracking tainted property for another case, discovered a compound with massive, unplanned construction at Sidzakeni in the Manzini Region. The haphazard manner of the building raised suspicions of money laundering, said Lukhele. Further investigations led to the identification of the owner as Fakudze.
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