Limpopo trio arrested for R6 million fraud

The Hawks in Limpopo have arrested three people for allegedly for fraud amounting to R6.3 million to Anglo-American Platinum for security services that were not rendered.

Monidue Nel, 52 [payroll administrator], Mr Wanda van Zyl, 57 [Director], and Ms Ruan van Zyl Ruan, 23 [payroll administrator] reportedly submitted fraudulent invoices and claiming funds during the period between 20 December 2018 and 20 September 2021.

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They were claiming for services rendered by the security guards attached to the Global Strike Security Company.

Anglo-American Platinum got suspicious of the fraud and conducted internal forensic investigations. The investigation revealed that over 33 fraudulent claims were submitted to the company and payments were already processed. As a result, Anglo-American Platinum suffered a loss of over R6.3 million.

“The matter was immediately reported to Mahwelereng police station for assistance,” said Warrant Officer Lethunya Mmuroa.

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“Police opened a case docket of fraud and transferred it to Polokwane based Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation for further probe.

“The meritorious investigations of the Hawks managed to link four personnel attached to Global Strike Security Company with the committed crime. Three of them are the mentioned accused, and the fourth one is a deceased.”

After the investigations, the case was handled to the office of the National Prosecuting Authority for decision. Subsequent to that, the warrants to arrest the suspect were also authorized.

The suspects were contacted and handed themselves over to the Hawks. They briefly appeared in the Mahwelereng Magistrate’s Court facing 26 counts of fraud on 19 May 2025. The matter was postponed to 20 May 2025 for the bail application.