A WOMAN who had been recruiting young women to marry them off to foreign nationals has been found guilty in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Port Elizabeth.
Nomabandla Manjezi, 47, was found guilty on four counts of corruption and two counts of fraud and is expected to be sentenced on February 18.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase, said Manjezi and an accomplice, Abu Bokar, were nabbed after immigration officials tipped police off about fraudulent marriage certificates that had been arranged between South African women and foreign nationals.
"Their operations were accosted during a waylay investigation in March 2017 resulting in them being charged for fraud and corruption. During the arrest of the duo their premises, which included a cell phone shop in North End and a house in New Brighton, were searched, consequently documents linked to their criminal operations were found in a container at the New Brighton premises and were seized for further investigation," Nkwalase said.
Investigations by the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) revealed Manjezi and Bokar had recruited the women from New Brighton, Kwazakele and Zwide in the Eastern Cape and paid them between R200 and R300 each to marry the men who were Bangladeshi nationals. Police said some of the other local women were unaware they were married to these men.
"Bokar appeared in the same court on 14 August 2018 and he pleaded guilty on two counts of fraud. He was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years," Nkwalase said.
IOL