A witness in the fraud and theft trial of African National Congress Women’s League president Winnie Madikizela-Mandela testified on Monday she was made to sign a blank loan application which was fraudulently completed later.
Nurse Maditaba Adelinah Raphahla told the Pretoria Regional Court she signed the form under the guidance of Madikizela-Mandela’s co-accused, broker Andy Moolman.
”I asked him how can I sign this document when it is blank, and he said because you need the money,” she said. Asked if she was satisfied with the answer Raphahla replied: ”Yes, because I was stranded and needed the money.”
The form was later completed to falsely state Raphahla was a clerk for the Ancyl and earned a salary of R4 200. In fact, she had been a nurse at Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto for 20 years and earned a net salary of R1 342. She had to repay the R15 000 loan at a rate of R724 a month. She only made three payments and said she was unable to afford the rest. She borrowed the money to pay her son’s school fees.
Raphahla said she applied for the loan at the ANC headquarters, Shell House, after pamphlets were distributed at her workplace. Questioned about a once-off R360 deduction for a funeral policy attached to the load, Raphahla said she was never informed about it by Moolman.
The trial started in July last year. Madikizela-Mandela and Moolman pleaded not guilty to 60 charges of fraud and 25 of theft involving R942 360.
The State alleges that letters on the ANCWL letterhead, bearing Madikizela-Mandela’s signature, were used to fraudulently obtain loans from Saambou Bank in the name of bogus league employees and Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter Zinzi.
The theft charges relate to amounts of R360 deducted from loan applicants’ bank accounts for a funeral policy that allegedly did not exist. The trial resumed on Monday after several delays. It was postponed last October because Madikizela-Mandela broke her foot and again last week when Moolman was injured in a car accident.
Moolman was back in court wearing a neck brace on Monday. The case continues. – Sapa