News24 reports that an administrative clerk has been handed a 10-year jail term for stealing R6.6 million from the Eastern Cape government-owned Coega Development Corporation.

For nine years, Bathandwa Matikinca duped the corporation into paying millions of rands into accounts of "ghost" interns he created. Matikinca would forward names of non-existing interns to a service provider hired by Coega to pay the stipends of interns undergoing in-service training at the corporation. The names were those of people who had already completed their training at Coega and had left the programme, but the accounts into which the funds were paid were held in Matikinca’s name. He also paid funds into his wife's bank account. The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit uncovered the scam, which ran between March 2013 and February 2021. Matikinca worked as a learner support officer who coordinated the in-service training programme. He was convicted on 1 March 2023. The Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Friday sentenced Matikinca to 10 years' imprisonment for fraud. He also received five years' imprisonment for money laundering. The court ordered that the sentences run concurrently, meaning Matikinca will spend a decade in jail.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Malibongwe Dayimani at News24

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