Dylan Bettencourt
Dr Tumi and his wife have been cleared of fraudulent wrongdoing after the charges against them were withdrawn on Thursday.
The gospel singer and his wife Kgaogela Makweya were accused of defrauding the National Lotteries Commission of more than R1.5 million in June this year.
The couple had handed themselves over to the authorities but were later released on bail.
After the couple presented reasons as to why they should not be prosecuted, the charges were dropped in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in the Palm Ridge Magistrates’ Court.
Dr Tumi, whose real name is Tumisang Makweya, said the past few months had taken a heavy toll on him and his wife.
“The matter was sub judice and we couldn’t comment on it. We maintained our innocence because we did nothing wrong,” he said in a statement.
“Handing ourselves over to the authorities was not an admission of guilt but was out of respect for law enforcement agencies and to allow justice to take its course.”
Despite the court’s withdrawal of the case, Hawks’ Gauteng provincial spokesperson Captain Carol Mulamu said she could not at that moment confirm the charges against the couple were also withdrawn.
The couple faced charges of misrepresenting grant application documents in 2018 which meant they were set to gain around R760,000 as committee members of the non-profit organisation applying to receive government funding.
The whereabouts of the R1.5 million that was awarded has yet to be determined, with no indication as to where the money went and how it was mismanaged by the National Lotteries Commission.
Image source: @TheCitizen
