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<\/figure>\n\n\nEnviro-Mobi did not disclose that it had links to ex-ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe, who was an MP at the time, a police statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suspects were not asked to enter pleas but Mabe and his wife denied the allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court hearing took place on Wednesday after the seven suspects had handed themselves into South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alongside Mabe and his wife, the defendants included two executives from Guateng’s provincial government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
All seven accused were awarded bail at the hearing, which took place in Ekurhuleni, a municipality just east of the city of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside the courthouse, Mabe told local media he was stepping down from the ANC’s executive committee, but “not because he is guilty”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contract in question stipulated that Enviro-Mobi should receive upfront payments and that money should only be handed to the company after a portion of its work was completed, police spokesperson Thandi Mbambo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the Hawks’ investigation found that Gauteng’s Department of Agriculture paid Enviro-Mobi 25 million rand for 200 vehicles, even though the goods were “still in the possession of the service provider”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is not the first time Mabe, who served as the ANC’s spokesperson from 2018 to 2023, has been accused of corruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with two others, he was arrested in 2013 over allegations he had defrauded the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). The trio were later cleared of all charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And in 2017 Mabe was fined after a parliamentary committee found that he had benefited from a contract with the state-owned rail company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seven suspects – including local government officials and a former African Nation Congress (ANC) spokesperson – have been charged with fraud in a South African court. The defendants appeared in court following an investigation into a 27 million rand (\u00a31.2m; $1.6m) government tender. The investigation found that five years ago the provincial government in Gauteng…<\/p>\n