A businessman who flaunted his wealth by taking a 72-car
convoy to the Durban July this year found himself stuck in a dark cell
yesterday after a power failure hit the magistrate's court he was supposed to
appear in.
Sam Chabalala of Sam Holdings was scheduled to appear
before the Witbank magistrate's court yesterday on charges of fraud,
corruption, contravention of the Immigration Act as well as possession of an
unlicensed firearm and ammunition.
The flamboyant businessman who goes by the Chabalala clan name,
Mshengu, was arrested by the Hawks in eMalahleni on Friday following a lengthy
investigation into his citizenship.
Chabalala allegedly tried to bribe Hawks officers with
R40,000 when he was nabbed. This was confirmed by the Hawks.
He also faces a charge of trying to bribe home affairs
officials who were probing how he acquired a South African identity document.
There was drama yesterday in the coal-mining town as
Chabalala's friends arrived at court in a fleet of expensive cars to support
him.
However, a power failure forced magistrate Mdumiseni Mavuso
to visit the police cells, where Chabalala was being held, and postpone the
matter to Friday.
Chabalala and his company had been successful in Mpumalanga
where they operated, among others, a trucking business that focused on
transporting coal to Eskom.
He, however, shot to national prominence in July when he
posted pictures on social media of a fleet of his expensive cars driving down
to Durban for the annual horse-racing event.
Most of the cars had personalised number plates with the
name "Sam" prominent on them.
Hawks spokesperson in Mpumalanga Cpt Dineo Sekgotodi said
the investigation into Chabalala related to his acquiring of a South African ID
in 2015.
She said when officials from home affairs were conducting
the investigation, he allegedly offered to pay them between R50,000 and
R100,000 for the probe to go away.
"After the home affairs investigation and the accused
promised to pay money, the Hawks were called where the transaction was to take
place.
"The accused was searched and an unlicensed firearm
and ammunition was found in his possession," Sekgotodi said.
"We found out that the accused first got his ID book
in 2015. When home affairs wanted to find out his parents' details and IDs, the
accused labelled a certain lady as his mother. But the lady denied knowing him
and her ID book got stolen in 2015. He also labelled two people as his brother
and sister but they all denied knowing him or being his siblings."
Sekgotodi said Chabalala also told officials that he was
born at Bethal Hospital, but the hospital did not have records of him being
born there.
But Chabalala's lawyer Namedi Phatudi told Sowetan outside
the court the state has a weak case.
"The case against my client is very weak, there's no
way that the state can prove the case successfully. On Friday, we are coming
here for a formal bail application and we are going to be successful on
that," Phatudi said.
Sekgotodi said the Hawks were yet to ascertain where
Chabalala was really from.
"The accused's ID, which we believe is fraudulent, is
saying the accused was born in 1995 and looking at him such seems to be untrue,
which gives questions on the obtaining of the ID and his age.
"On this case we believe there's more suspects to be
arrested regarding the ID of the suspect," said Sekgotodi. Sowetan
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