Pretoria – A 75-year-old lifer, Jacob Yende, accused of hatching a plan from prison to scam R80 000 from Cabinet Minister, Dr. Aaron Motsoaledi, has been found out and brought before a court to face the music.
Yende, who is serving his life sentence at a prison in eMalahleni (Witbank), was brought before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, (29 August 2024).
Allegations are that nearly two years ago, on 29 December 2022, the then home affairs minister, Dr. Motsoaledi, received threatening telephone calls followed by WhatsApp messages from a person, who identified himself as “Vusi” – a would-be assassin.
Vusi allegedly claimed that he had been hired to kill the minister.
He told the minister that he had already received an upfront payment of R40 000, with the balance of R20 000 to be paid after the hit.
Vusi allegedly indicated that he was prepared to abandon the hit job if the minister paid R80 000 into his Capitec bank account.
However, the matter was reported to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) – better known as the Hawks – and a case of intimidation and extortion was opened at the Brooklyn Police Station, in Pretoria.
Investigations revealed that the threatening calls and WhatsApp messages were sent from the eMalahleni prison.
A search and seizure operation was conducted at the prison, where several cell phones and SIM cards were seized.
Warning statements were obtained from eight inmates, one of whom was found to own the Capitec bank account supplied to Dr. Motsoaledi – now the health minister.
The suspect was identified as Jacob Yende, who is serving a life sentence.
His matter was remanded to 9 September 2024.
