Cape Town - Nearly R300 000 was paid out to five mothers who were defrauded of maintenance money by a justice official, whose pension fund was seized to reimburse the families.
Some of the mothers had spent three years trying to get clarity about the maintenance money from ex-husbands and former partners that was not being paid out to them.
It was discovered only last year that Rene Borchjes, a maintenance official at the Bishop Lavis Magistrate’s Court, had been diverting the money into her own account.
Borchjes, 35, was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for stealing maintenance payments that were supposed to go to 13 Western Cape families.
She had failed to honour a previous court order to pay back the money.
As part of her sentencing, the State attached Borchjes’s pension to reimburse the defrauded beneficiaries.
Some mothers wept on Thursday while telling Regional Justice Department head Hishaam Mohamed of how they had to borrow money from neighbours over two years to visit the courts to get clarity about the maintenance money, without much help from officials.
One of the mothers, Valerie Jones, had died from motor neuron disease without seeing the money.
Jones lodged a maintenance claim in 2009 against her ex-husband for their son, now 13. Her husband, Corneels Roman, who has her power of attorney, collected a cheque of R44 000 on her behalf on Thursday. He said after R2 500 had been deposited into his wife’s account, Borchjes had visited the couple and told them that the money had been paid in error. They were required to pay it into Borchjes’s personal account.
“When my wife was sick,I told her I would sort it out. I’m really grateful that it has happened,” he said.
The widower said he would open an account where the money would be kept until the son turned 18. It would help pay for his education.
Ester Kakaza, of Mandalay, last received payment from her ex-husband in 2012. She had lodged a claim of R3 000 a month for her two children, aged 17 and 12. The last payment was a lump sum of R117 000, which included arrears from 2007.
Kakaza said in 2012 payments had stopped coming and Borchjes told her that payments had stopped because of a trust account.
But she later discovered Borchjes had been involved in a corruption scam. A cheque of R75 000 was given to her on Thursday. “It has been a struggle to provide for these children because their father has stopped working and I was also unemployed,” Kakaza said.
In total, R293 013 was paid out on Thursday, including R18 850 to Washiela Dames, who lodged a claim for her disabled child of 17.
Mohamed said a similar fraudulent scheme had been operating in Clanwillam last year. That official was fired, prosecuted and sentenced to eight years in jail, Mohamed said. Her pension money was attached and her vehicle sold to reimburse her victims.
Mohamed said the department was working on a system that identified fraud faster. A task team of police, prosecutors and Justice Department officials had been set up to investigate.
Cape Times