Errol Velile Present
Former ANC employee Errol Velile Present, allegedly implicated in three cash-in-transit heists, is expected to apply for bail in the Roodepoort magistrate’s court on Tuesday.
Present was one of four people arrested during a heist in Dobsonville, Soweto, earlier this month. All four are charged with armed robbery and the possession of hijacked motor vehicles.
The accused were arrested on July 6 and 7. Four hijacked vehicles were recovered, two of which were apparently used in a heist outside Capitec Bank in Elias Motsoaledi Road in Soweto earlier this month.
News24 previously reported that the alleged robbers fled the scene in a white Ford Ranger and a silver Volvo sedan, taking an undisclosed amount of cash.
Last year, the Sunday Times reported that Present had been introduced to a top land reform department official at a land summit organised by former Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform Gugile Nkwinti.
Eight months later, Bekendvlei farm in Limpopo was purchased for R97-million and handed over to Present.
It is alleged that the department official bypassed required procedures and that a day after the deal went through, Nkwinti was the speaker at Present’s lavish wedding.
At the time, Nkwinti denied the allegations, however, the details of the deal emerged in a forensic investigation report conducted by Deloitte.
The report apparently recommended that Nkwinti be charged for possible corruption. — Fin 24