PRETORIA, Oct 23 (The African Portal) – Former South African lawmaker Manyaba Rubben Mohlaloga has been ordered to report to the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday to begin serving a 20-year prison sentence for fraud and money laundering, the Hawks said.
Mohlaloga, who chaired parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Agriculture and Land Affairs from 2007 to 2009, was convicted in 2019 for his role in the irregular payment of a 6 million rand ($324,000) grant from the state-run AgriBEE Fund.
Investigators from the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation unit found that the grant was approved in 2008 on the verbal instruction of the then Land Bank chief executive, bypassing standard approval procedures. The fund, worth 100 million rand, was created to support black farmers.
Mohlaloga personally benefited from the payment, investigators said. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud and another 15 for money laundering, with 10 years of the latter to run concurrently, resulting in an effective 20-year term.
His appeals to the Pretoria High Court and Supreme Court of Appeal were dismissed. On Aug. 8, 2025, the SCA ordered him to begin his sentence. A subsequent bid to extend bail pending an appeal to the Constitutional Court was rejected by the High Court on Oct. 13.
“The Hawks and the justice system remain resolute in bringing those who abuse positions of trust and authority to justice,” Acting National Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation Lieutenant General Patrick Mbotho said in a statement.
This story was written with additional files from SAnews.gov.za
