Pretoria | Tuesday
PRESIDENTIAL advisor Titus Mafolo on Monday, through his attorneys, denied allegations that he had lied about the hijacking of his Mercedes Benz in Pretoria on December 15.
”Up to this stage our client’s vehicle has not been recovered. Our client does not have anything to gain from ‘faking’ the hijacking of his own vehicle,” Molefe Attorneys said in a statement.
”The insinuation that he faked the hijacking of his vehicle and robbery of his belongings is therefore rejected with the contempt it deserves.”
The statement said Mafolo had co-operated with the investigating officer in the case and showed him the place where the alleged crime took place.
”As time went on our client became dissatisfied with the way the investigating officer was conducting the investigations,” the attorneys’ statement said.
It added that Mafolo had told the investigating officer ”in no uncertain terms” that he was dissatisfied with his conduct and had lost confidence in him.
”Instead of addressing Mr Mafolo’s concerns the investigating officer decided to lay charges against our client and proceeded to obtain a warrant of arrest.”
Mafolo, who is one of President Thabo Mbeki’s political advisors, appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court last Friday on charges of fraud, perjury and defeating the ends of justice, Pretoria police said.
He was released on R3 000 bail, and was again to appear in the court on February 13, police representative Inspector Percy Morokane said.
He declined to elaborate on the charges, saying only they related to the statement Mafolo made after allegedly being hijacked. The police had since allegedly found the statement to be ”full of inconsistencies”.
”After investigating, we found that something was amiss,” Morokane said.
Mafolo was arrested in Pretoria on Friday morning.
He had claimed he was hijacked on December 15, and that R2 000 was stolen from him.
Mafolo alleged that four armed men approached him in Pretoria West on the evening in question, minutes after he had withdrawn money from an automated teller machine, and they had threatened to shoot him.
He said the men then locked him in the boot of his Mercedes Benz and drove around the city before dumping him at the Stanza Bopape informal settlement around 2am on Sunday morning.
Mafolo said the robbers also took all the clothes he was wearing.
The men drove off in his car with his cellphone, R2 000 cash, and credit cards.
Mafolo also claimed the tracker company with which his car was registered did not react promptly but this was denied by the company.
The investigating officer in the case, Inspector Steven Hermitage, asked the South African Press Association (Sapa) shortly after the incident to provide him with a copy of its report on the alleged crime.
Sapa editor Mark van der Velden said it was understood that part of the investigation involved alleged differences between what Mafolo told Sapa, when he called the Association and was interviewed telephonically, and what he told the police in formal statements about the incident.
As before, Sapa stood by every aspect of its report on that day and in which Pretoria police commissioner Amon Mashigo confirmed the hijacking, Van der Velden said on Monday. – Sapa