Pretoria – Former senior Municipal Infrastructure Support Agency (MISA) official, 49-year-old Lizeka Tonjeni, has been sentenced to five years in prison for corruption related to the dodgy Digital Vibes contract.
The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced Tonjeni on Friday, (27 September 2024), after she was convicted of one count of corruption involving R160 000.
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Explaining how the accused was convicted, Gauteng National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, said in 2018 when MISA awarded a tender of almost R4 million to Digital Vibes to render communication services for 24 months, Tonjeni was nominated as a project manager.
Tonjeni was responsible for the appointment and management of the service provider, and to whom all communication had to be addressed.
“From December 2018 until August 2020, while Tonjeni was still a project manager, she received payments of R160 000.00 that were not authorised and due to her, from Digital Vibes,” said Mahanjana.
“After investigations by the Hawks Serious Corruption Offences (SCO), Tonjeni was arrested after she handed herself to the police at the Pretoria Central Police Station on 24 May 2022.”
In court, she pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied that she received payments from Digital Vibes in a corrupt manner.
In her testimony, Mahanjana said the payments received from the brain behind Digital Vibes, Tahera Mather, were for weight loss and energy booster products she was selling.
The accused claimed that she still owes the director of Digital Vibes R85 000 because she was unable to deliver some of the products and pay back her money.
However, a team of prosecutors, Advocates Willem van Zyl and Phumla Dwane-Alpman, called witnesses who are MISA employees, to testify and adduced evidence to prove that indeed Tonjeni was guilty of the charges preferred against her.
During the sentencing proceedings, Tonjeni asked the court to impose a non-custodial sentence of correctional supervision because she has a minor child to take care of.
However, the prosecutors asked for a sentence of direct imprisonment because Tonjeni committed a serious offence of corruption that was widespread on the part of state functionaries and caused reputational damage to MISA, a national government component that is accountable to the Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Evidence presented in court clearly showed that it was MISA’s money that ultimately ended up in Tonjeni’s hands.
Furthermore, the two advocates told the court that Tonjeni showed no remorse for the offences committed, and did not take the court into her confidence when she lied about the circumstances of her child.
The prosecutors said having a minor child was not a get-out-of-jail-free card that offenders could use to escape prison.
They cautioned that placing too much emphasis on the child and not imposing a prison sentence would send a wrong message to society.
When handing down the sentence, Magistrate Nicola Setshoge said corrupt activities have become a “pandemic in the country, especially in parastatals and procurement”.
The magistrate said Setshoge’s case was a classic example of corruption, adding that Tonjeni committed the offence to feed her greed.
The magistrate said she found that the mitigating factors were overwhelmed by the aggravating factors and sentenced the accused to five years in prison.
“The NPA welcomes the sentence and wants to send a strong message that corrupt officials know that impunity is no longer a given and that the dreaded knock on the door has become a realistic prospect,” said Mahanjana.
