Pretoria - For less than a week, Dr Murunwa Makwarela enjoyed the perks that came with being the mayor of Tshwane. He was “the man” of Tshwane politics.
However, yesterday he was an offender, having handed himself over at the Brooklyn police station.
He was later granted bail by the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria.
He was hauled before the courts after the City of Tshwane approached the Hawks to probe him for fraud regarding the alleged fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate.
The politician, businessman, former speaker of council and mayor, is alleged to have submitted a fake court document to prove he was eligible to run for office.
He served as the mayor of Tshwane from February 28 until he was fired by the city manager on March 7 for being declared insolvent in 2016.
Through his legal counsel, referred to as Mr Manganyi, Makwarela asked the courts to grant him bail of R2 000 as he had willingly handed himself over to the police, would attend all proceedings and would not interfere with the ongoing investigations.
He said that he was a first-time offender, had no previous or pending cases against him, and was willing to hand over his passport and abide by any rules that were set by the courts.
State prosecutor Willem van Zyl also informed the court that the State would not be opposing his release on bail at the moment, however, he indicated that a different bail amount had been discussed and agreed upon with the accused’s legal counsel due to the seriousness of the offence.
According to the Directorate for Priority Crime’s Colonel Katlego Mogale, Makwarela was facing two counts of fraud and uttering.
The court granted him R10 000 bail and instructed that he hand over his passport to his investigating officer by 4pm today, and not to apply for any travel documents.
He is also not allowed to leave Gauteng and should he have to travel out of the province he is to inform the investigating officer in writing 48 hours prior to the departure.
In addition, he was also requested not to contact people from the Department of Justice Constitutional Development, the Office of the Chief Justice, any persons from the electoral commission and five other key State witnesses.
The matter was postponed to May 2 for disclosure of the docket and for Makwarela to give his legal counsel instructions.
The City said it was informed that Makwarela had given himself up and so they noted this move as an arrest.
“The City had reported the matter wherein the doctor had submitted a certificate purporting to be solvent, which is now in the hands of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster to probe.
“The City would like to send a stern warning that members of the public should always submit authentic documents to organisations,” it said.
They also said as the City, they were dependent upon political parties to advance upright members to represent them in the council.
His former party political party, Cope in Tshwane, threw him under the bus, saying the law must take its course.
The multi-party coalition partners, consisting of the DA, ActionSA, FF+, ACDP and the IFP called for a probe into the matter and took legal steps to verify the certificate.
The chief registrar of the High Court, Pretoria, Tumelo Refilwe Ledwaba, dismissed the document purporting to be an order issued by that court.
Cope regional spokesperson Brian Mkhono said the party wanted to give the courts space to, and let the law take its course. Speaking to Pretoria News yesterday, he said the justice administration process should proceed.
“We obviously don’t want the matter to drag on for long. But we must give space for courts to air the issues.”
He added that the party would support Makwarela “as a friend” and not as a Cope member.
ANC regional spokesperson George Matjila said the party appreciated that the police had acted swiftly.
“Dr Makwarela committed fraud, and we hope he gets convicted. The courts must make him an example,” he said.
The DA’s Jacques Uys said: “The entire situation surrounding Dr Makwarela has placed the City in turmoil; the coalition is working hard to steady the ship after Cilliers Brink’s election as mayor. We now put our trust in the justice system to takes is course.”
Pretoria News