Pretoria - The Pretoria Special Commercial Crimes Court has convicted a former State Security Agency (SSA) finance clerk Kgaogelo Bopape, 53, for theft of R170 000.
North Gauteng regional spokesperson for the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Lumka Mahanjana said some of Bopape’s responsibilities within the State Security Agency involved making funds available to members of the agency for their different operations.
“On April 7, 2020, Bopape withdrew R500 000 under the false pretence that she would make the funds available to the members of the SSA operations. She then kept the funds in a lockable safe in her office and later took R170 000 and used it for her benefit,” said Mahanjana.
She said when the finance manager of the division was doing a spot check audit, he discovered that there was an amount of R500 000 missing from the safe.
“After internal investigations were done, an opened packet containing R330 000 was found inside Bopape’s office, and upon interrogation, she eventually admitted to stealing R170 000,” said Mahanjana.
The matter was reported to the police and Bopape was arrested on January 26, 2021.
In court on Thursday, Bopape pleaded guilty to a charge of theft and handed in her guilty plea statement.
The matter was postponed to April 6, for a probation officer’s report and for sentencing.
The Experts Panel Report into the civil unrest in July last year has painted a disturbing picture of the country’s security services and the structures that exist to co-ordinate work.
This was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa when he delivered the State of the Nation Address (Sona) held in Cape Town last week.
“We will, as recommended by the panel, develop and drive a national response plan to address the weaknesses that the panel has identified. We will begin immediately by filling critical vacancies and addressing positions affected by suspensions in the State Security Agency and Crime Intelligence,” he said.
Ramaphosa said he would soon be announcing leadership changes in a number of security agencies to strengthen our security structures.
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