Johannesburg – Former Tshwane mayor Dr Murunwa Makwarela may face both fraud and perjury charges after submitting a fake insolvency rehabilitation certificate in order to retain his mayoral position.
Cope’s Makwarela was voted in as mayor on March 1 following the resignation of the DA’s Randall Williams. Makwarela was then removed as mayor due to being insolvent on March 7 and was reinstated two days later after submitting an insolvency rehabilitation certificate which was discovered to be fake upon investigation, a day later.
Makwarela resigned as the executive mayor and councillor when the North Gauteng High Court revealed that his debt rehabilitation certificate was indeed fake.
Dubazana Attorney’s founder, attorney Nthabiseng Dubazana, said: “Fraudulent court documents fall under the crime of perjury so what would happen is that the registry of the court would investigate and should they find that perhaps there was a matter relating to the former mayor and that matter remains unresolved, meaning that he was not rehabilitated, then it would mean that they made a fraudulent announcement of a court order and they would face criminal charges.”
Dubazana added: “This means they would face charges of fraud and they would also face charges of perjury. for their misrepresentation of the true facts.”
Perjury, which refers to one intentionally lying under oath, could result in a sentence of a maximum of three years, which does sometimes end up being a suspended sentence depending on what the presiding officer deems fit for the matter at hand.
While fraud is dealt with more severely with a sentence ranging between five and 10 years’ imprisonment, which may or may not result in a suspended sentence depending on the circumstances surrounding the case.
“Cases are unique in their circumstances and this one is not a usual matter. There are similar cases but not many quite like it, so it is quite hard to predict what the exact outcome might be for sure, but this is certainly both a criminal and civil matter,” said Dubazana.
The multiparty coalition led by the DA also laid charges of fraud against the former mayor at the Brooklyn police station on Friday.
IOL