Everson Luhanga
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery – but Bheki Cele was less flattered and more annoyed by Zakhele Nkosi, a man who posed as the police minister on social media.
Can you imagine the headache Cele must have had when Nkosi, at the height of lockdown in 2020, announced to his followers that he was reopening liquor shops?
Well, luckily Nkosi’s account only had a grand total of 160 followers – how many of those do you think danced with joy and drove out to their local liquor store? Our guess is not many.
Still, the 34-year-old caused enough of a stir to draw the watchful eye of the Hawks.
The Hawks Serious Commercial Crime investigation (SCCI) team, together with the Cyber Crime Investigation team launched an in-depth investigation into the account
This resulted in Nkosi’s arrest.
Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Philani Nkwalase said Nkosi was served with a summons last month and is now set to appear in court for his misdeeds.
“Officials acted on information that was circulating on social media purporting that the Police Minister will on the 13 April 2020 announce that liquor shops will open. This was unbecoming and regarded as fake news as the Minister of Police has no valid social media accounts,” said Nkwalase.
The investigation revealed, however, that Nkosi is far from the only genius to come up with the idea of impersonating the police minister online. Nkwalase said that they found approximately 161 Facebook accounts and two Facebook groups purporting to be that of the minister.
And so the investigation team found themselves chasing down every internet troll carrying the name Bheki Cele.
“Similarly, another man, Mzomusha Hlongwane, 25, also linked to other Facebook accounts was served with the court summons to appear in the Bergville Magistrate’s Court in KwaZulu-Natal on 30 September 2021,” said Nkwalase.
Hlongwane pleaded guilty to all charges and was subsequently sentenced by the same court in December 2021.
Shockingly, he was handed a 30-day prison sentence and a R1,000 fine for contravening the Regulations of the Disaster Management Act.
“He was additionally fined two-thousand-rand or two months imprisonment for fraud, suspended for five years on condition that he will not be convicted for fraud over the period of suspension.”
Nkwalase said the case against Nkosi was postponed until next Thursday and more arrests are expected.
