By Iavan Pijoos.
A third person has been arrested and charged in connection with the R1.2-million fraud case of Nomsa Masuku, an Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) commissioner.
Ciniso Masuku, who is the nephew of Masuku, made his first appearance in the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Palm Ridge on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old has been charged with fraud and theft after he voluntarily surrendered himself over to police.
He was granted R20 000 bail.
The case dates back to when Masuku was the head of the Corporate Social Investment (CSI) programme at Standard Bank, where she allegedly syphoned funds and channelled scholarships through the bank’s Adopt-a-School Scholarship Trust to friends and family members.
News24 previously reported that the charge sheet alleged that while Masuku headed the bank’s foundation, she orchestrated unauthorised transfers of hundreds of thousands of rand to a company called Silver Arrow Management Solutions (Pty) Ltd.
Mark Phillip Roux, a trustee of the Adopt-a-School Scholarship Trust, is a director of Silver Arrow – who is also cited as an accused.
Roux appeared alongside Masuku in the same court last month on charges of theft, money laundering, fraud, and “acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of unlawful activity”.
They are both out on R20 000 bail.
According to the charge sheet, Masuku allegedly transferred R300 000 and R500 000 to Silver Arrow in December 2012 and March 2013 without proper authorisation.
Subsequently, Roux is alleged to have funnelled R335 000 of that money back to Masuku in six separate instalments, in an apparent attempt to conceal the origin of the funds.
The charge sheet states that instead of handing out bursaries to deserving students, Masuku allegedly fraudulently awarded the scholarships to unqualified beneficiaries, including relatives.
One of the beneficiaries was Ciniso, despite his allegedly low marks.
In his affidavit submitted to court on Tuesday, Ciniso stated that he is currently unemployed and undertakes freelance animation projects.
During his working periods, he earned between R5 000 and R6 000. He owns no movable or immovable property and resides with his sister in Northriding, Randburg.
Ciniso said that he was born in Eswatini and relocated to South Africa a few years ago, where he has since acquired South African citizenship.
He also claimed that he was “seriously injured” and required “almost constant” medical supervision and dressing of his wounds.
He said he was attacked and stabbed on 6 October.
“My injuries were extremely serious. I almost died. If I am incarcerated, there is a serious risk of sepsis and death. This has already nearly occurred,” he said.
Ciniso further claimed that the State’s case against him was weak.
“The weakness of the case against me fails to meet any threshold that would justify any limitation of my constitutional rights in any way, and the dictates of fairness and the interests of justice militate strongly against any deprivation of my liberty and that, therefore I should be released on bail.”
In opposing bail, the State submitted an affidavit from investigating officer Constable Windzor Mboweni.
In his affidavit, Mboweni argued that Ciniso was a flight risk and would evade his trial.
“Ciniso Vusi Masuku knew from 2022 that I am looking for him, but he never bothered to arrange to come to me.
“I have reasonable belief that he is a flight risk,” he said.
Despite this, Ciniso was released on bail on condition that he surrender his passport and report to his local police station twice a week.
The case was postponed to 6 February for Ciniso to appear with his co-accused.