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The former head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Major General Simon Mapyane, has been found guilty of fraud in the Nelspruit Regional Court for submitting false travel claims to the tune of about R20 000 in 2010.
The court heard that he submitted a travel claim for his private vehicle for attending a Hawks operation in Ogies in Mpumalanga. It was established via his cellphone and SA Police Service logging records that he was in Ogies, but that he travelled with other members in a police vehicle.
Mapyane also claimed for a trip to attend a court case in Pretoria. The prosecutor of the Pretoria case testified that she had not called Mapyane for the case.
The fraud case against Mapyane was originally investigated by the former provincial commissioner of the police in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Thulani Ntobela.
He was arrested on May 22, 2013, and was released on his own recognisance.
At the time, Mapyane, who had been on suspension for three months, returned to work because his disciplinary hearing had not been finalised.
He refused to leave his office even though an acting head had been appointed to fill his position.
In 2015, about 18 months after his suspension, then acting national head of the Hawks Major General Benny Ntlemeza wrote a letter to members of the unit in Mpumalanga, instructing them to ignore any orders Mapyane gave them.
Only then did he leave his office.
Mapyane is expected to be sentenced on May 22.
