No bail for man accused of stealing identity of SA police minister's wife
Senzo Mchunu and his wife Thembeka Mchunu at President Jacob Zuma's 70th birthday celebrations at the Durban International Convention Centre on April 13, 2012 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Jackie Clausen)
The illegal immigrant accused of stealing the identity of South African Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's wife, Thembeka Mchunu, has been denied bail.
On Thursday, the Empangeni Magistrate's Court denied 50-year-old Ndubuisi Okeke bail, ruling that releasing him would not serve the interests of justice, as he has a 'tendency to commit crimes involving dishonesty'.
The court denied Okeke bail because he is considered a flight risk and is in South Africa illegally.
Okeke allegedly stole Mchunu's identity, leaving her blacklisted
'This fact was conceded. The evidence of the investigating officer was not challenged or disputed by the team representing the accused; instead, there were a number of concessions made. It is my considered view that in the circumstances, bail should be refused, and bail is refused,' the judge said.
Okeke's case stems from member of parliament and former King Cetshwayo District Municipality mayor Mchunu discovering that she was a victim of identity theft.
The minister's wife has reportedly been blacklisted and is unable to make any credit transactions as a result.
ALSO READ: Outrage after seven people killed in mass shooting in Gugulethu
According to the Zululand Observer, she discovered the fraud after attempting to buy a car in 2023, when her application was declined due to her name being flagged as a bad payer.
Mchunu later discovered that her name, ID number, and banking details had been used illegally to purchase two cellphones from a company in Johannesburg in October 2022.
The breakthrough occurred last month following Okeke's arrest and subsequent remand in police custody.
Minister and wife both victims of identity theft scams
Mchunu's husband has also fallen victim to identity theft in the past. The police minister testified at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court in 2023 that he became a victim of a scam after his SIM card was cloned.
He said he was bombarded with complaints that his cellphone number had been used to scam people in his contact list.
His contacts were called by two men who duped some of them into depositing cash into an account. One of the alleged conmen was a sentenced prisoner.
NOW READ: Stock theft crisis: Police struggle to return hundreds of unclaimed animals to owners
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
How South Africa fell into the dull political loop of becoming boring
The death of meaningful political advancement means that South Africa has become stuck in a rut of its own carving. Is there a way forward? Remember when South Africa used to be fun? Remember when the memes slammed into each other like neutrons and electrons, causing small explosions every 15 seconds or so? Remember when there was a fancy term for corruption? Remember when optimism and pessimism cycled around each other in an endless loop, and didn't always land on 'this sucks'? Yeah, me neither. South Africa has become boring. I'm not talking about a lack of political spectacle — there is still Floyd Shivambu scurrying around the kleptocratic wilds looking for a political party to hide behind, and the general idiocy at MK, which is eating itself, like faecal parasites. There is still President Cyril Ramaphosa trying to assert himself on the local stage while playing a pliant mouse in the White House. There's still the alleged drama within the alleged GNU, really just a coalition government and horse-trading forum where the Ramaphosa wing of the ANC and the house-trained wing of the DA bargain on behalf of their backers. Nor am I using 'boring' as a simile for 'blandly functional' — a sort of Scandinavian or Botswana-ish plodding along that results in something akin to stability. What I mean is boring in the true sense of the term — an endless drilling down into the depths of utter nothingness. Is anything happening in South Africa that could be meaningfully termed progress? If you're a capitalist, is the economy growing? If you're a socialist, is the economy becoming fairer? If you're a communist, is anyone at all being sent to the gulag? I'd wager no. Apologists for the coalition government point out several areas where something seems to be moving. The Hawks, South Africa's crack cops, appear to have pulled the proverbial thumb out, and have made some big arrests. The National Prosecuting Authority sort of/kind of won a case. The Transnet baddies have finally been arrested, even though most South Africans (outside of Cape Town) have forgotten what a train looks like. But even with these dogged, incremental improvements, crime and corruption are so embedded in the South African political, economic, social and cultural space that it hardly touches sides. Always accomplished sports-washers, South Africans can point to the excellent performance of our major teams in international competitions, but it's worth remembering that tiny East Germany cleaned up at the Olympic Games during the Cold War, and no one in West Germany was risking their life to hop the wall into the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Culturally, the music and movie booms teased during the 90s and noughties have stalled out. There is no meaningful support of artists in this country, which means talent gets strangled at birth. The Sports and Culture minister can't do sport and wouldn't know culture if JM Coetzee's entire bibliography was tattooed on his butt cheeks. The DTIC under Parks Tau has become exclusively focused on ensuring that American preferential trade deals remain in place, despite the fact that America thinks it's being screwed by Lesotho. The department no longer assesses applications for film industry tax rebates, a standard industry stimulus that pertains in any market that hopes to draw filmmaking talent. Tau has single-handedly killed the industry, through sheer ignorance and lassitude. (There are also those sweet sweet Lotto tenders, which may or may not have cost deputy minister Andrew Whitfield his gig.) Sure, there are individual politicians who are truly gifted—I'm thinking Geordin Hill-Lewis in Cape Town, and perhaps a handful of other players here and there. But Helen 'Supreme Karen' Zille has auditioned for the role of Johannesburg Executive Mayor, a role that has not been blessed with talent of late. Zille, a vet of State Capture and Ramaphosa's first-term Race Grift Wars, feels like an absurd anachronism at this point. And the only people keeping Julius Malema alive are her allied American race warriors, who don't seem to understand — because they don't understand anything — that Malema has no constituency, and no power base. So what's next? Zuma for president? Sort of. Deputy President Paul Mashitile, at this point a shoe-in for the ANC's next leader, did state capture before there was State Capture. As a ranking member of the Gauteng ANC mafia, he is adept at taking a piece of the action, and will only entrench and deepen South Africa's kleptocratic tendencies. It's all so boring. So where is the pushback? Part of the problem is that most people seem to be waiting for the coalition to click, and have deferred the responsibilities of citizenship to their proxies inside government. (See: the VAT fight.) But the coalition won't click, as should be perfectly plain now. As this suggests, the bigger problem is an existential exhaustion. First, there was the fight against apartheid. Then, there was the fight against State Capture. Now, there is the fight against reverse anti-white apartheid. (I'm kidding, I'm kidding.) The population of this country has been stirred up into a big mound of lukewarm mieliemeal — cheap carbs, hold the gravy. So much of it comes down to the fact that the dispensation just hasn't served the majority, not even close. I'm going to quote Peter Thiel here. Yup, Peter 'I Pull The Heads Off Babies' Thiel: 'When one has too much student debt or if housing is too unaffordable, then one will have negative capital for a long time … and if one has no stake in the capitalist system, then one may well turn against it.' No shit, homie. Most South Africans have tacitly turned against the system. The MK party's surge at the polls was a protest vote that functioned as a large raised middle finger at the establishment. And so downward we bore, deeper into the Earth's core than our defunct gold mines. It is perhaps ironic that South Africa's most interesting politician just won the Democratic primary for mayor in New York City. I know, calling Zohran Mamdani South African is a stretch, but he was educated here, and one imagines part of his world-view was formed here. Maybe that's why he can so clearly see through the guff, and understand that a politics of fairness, driven for and by the majority, is the only way forward. It's telling that both Republicans and Democrats are flipping out over the guy, as of course would any South African politician. Mamdani's platform leaves no room for grift, for the double-dealing and self-enrichment that has become the hallmark of postmodern politics. That's why we're boring, and why we'll keep digging our own deep graves. And why Mamdani presents a way forward that South Africans would do well to consider. DM
The Citizen
4 hours ago
- The Citizen
Top 10 stories of the day: RIP David Mabuza
Here's your daily news update for Thursday, 3 July 2025: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories. In the news today, former South African Deputy President David Mabuza has died. Meanwhile, a bus driver has been arrested for transporting 80 undocumented foreign nationals. Furthermore, the much-anticipated Hey Neighbour Festival has been postponed. Former SA deputy president David Mabuza has died Former South African Deputy President David Mabuza has died. Mabuza, also known as the Cat, passed away in a Sandton hospital on Thursday after a prolonged battle with ill health. He was 64 years old. Former deputy president David Mabuza. Picture: Gallo Images ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula confirmed Mabuza's passing. 'It is with deep sorrow and a heavy heart that we learn of the passing of former deputy president of the republic and stalwart of our movement, Comrade David Dabede Mabuza.' CONTINUE READING: Former SA deputy president David Mabuza has died Bus driver arrested after transporting nearly 80 undocumented Zimbabweans A bus driver has been arrested and his human cargo escorted back to the border after failing to escape authorities. The police's border unit was aided by South African National Parks Rangers in tracking a bus loaded with undocumented foreign nationals on Monday. Entrance to the Beitbridge Border Post in Limpopo. Picture: Nigel Sibanda The driver of the bus was charged with the Conveyance of Illegal Immigrants and given a fine of at least R100 000. CONTINUE READING: Bus driver arrested after transporting nearly 80 undocumented Zimbabweans The much-anticipated Hey Neighbour Festival has been postponed. Originally scheduled for August, the festival will now take place in December 2025. Doja Cat was set to headline this year's Day two of the festival in August. Picture: dojacat/Instagram In a statement on Thursday, the organisers said the decision was a strategic one, aimed at ensuring the festival's long-term success and sustainability. 'While the festival was set to feature world-class performances, including the highly anticipated appearances by Doja Cat, Central Cee, Black Coffee, and Leon Thomas, to name a few, the organisers have made the strategic decision to reschedule the festival in order to ensure its continued success and sustainability,' the statement read. CONTINUE READING: Hey Neighbour Festival postponed as organisers negotiate new dates with artists Malema's revenge politics puts ANC on notice EFF leader Julius Malema has vowed the EFF will vote with the DA to oust President Cyril Ramaphosa in the mooted motion of no confidence. If this move is successful, it could see DA leader and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen becoming the first white president since the dawn of democracy in 1994. EFF commander in chief Julius Malema. Picture: Facebook/Economic Freedom Fighters 'I want to warn you that this country will have a white president. Steenhuisen will be president if the ANC is behaving the way it is doing,' said Malema yesterday. 'The motion of no confidence will come, we will vote with the DA. Then, when it is time elect a president, we will abstain and the ANC will lose.' CONTINUE READING: Malema's revenge politics puts ANC on notice Woman awarded R2.2m after losing eye when hit by police's rubber bullet A woman from the North West has been awarded R2.2 million in damages after being struck in the eye by a rubber bullet fired by police during a protest. The North West High Court in Mahikeng ruled in favour of Elizabeth Matshidiso Jack, who suffered a major eye injury six years ago. Picture: iStock She subsequently launched a civil claim against the minister of police. CONTINUE READING: Woman awarded R2.2m after losing eye when hit by police's rubber bullet Here are five more stories of the day: Yesterday's News recap READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: FF+: US wants ANC to denounce chant | Pretoria Girls principal guilty | More Chiefs signings
The Citizen
7 hours ago
- The Citizen
No bail for man accused of stealing identity of SA police minister's wife
A man accused of identity theft targeting Thembeka Mchunu has been denied bail due to dishonesty and being in SA illegally. Senzo Mchunu and his wife Thembeka Mchunu at President Jacob Zuma's 70th birthday celebrations at the Durban International Convention Centre on April 13, 2012 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images / Sunday Times / Jackie Clausen) The illegal immigrant accused of stealing the identity of South African Police Minister Senzo Mchunu's wife, Thembeka Mchunu, has been denied bail. On Thursday, the Empangeni Magistrate's Court denied 50-year-old Ndubuisi Okeke bail, ruling that releasing him would not serve the interests of justice, as he has a 'tendency to commit crimes involving dishonesty'. The court denied Okeke bail because he is considered a flight risk and is in South Africa illegally. Okeke allegedly stole Mchunu's identity, leaving her blacklisted 'This fact was conceded. The evidence of the investigating officer was not challenged or disputed by the team representing the accused; instead, there were a number of concessions made. It is my considered view that in the circumstances, bail should be refused, and bail is refused,' the judge said. Okeke's case stems from member of parliament and former King Cetshwayo District Municipality mayor Mchunu discovering that she was a victim of identity theft. The minister's wife has reportedly been blacklisted and is unable to make any credit transactions as a result. ALSO READ: Outrage after seven people killed in mass shooting in Gugulethu According to the Zululand Observer, she discovered the fraud after attempting to buy a car in 2023, when her application was declined due to her name being flagged as a bad payer. Mchunu later discovered that her name, ID number, and banking details had been used illegally to purchase two cellphones from a company in Johannesburg in October 2022. The breakthrough occurred last month following Okeke's arrest and subsequent remand in police custody. Minister and wife both victims of identity theft scams Mchunu's husband has also fallen victim to identity theft in the past. The police minister testified at the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court in 2023 that he became a victim of a scam after his SIM card was cloned. He said he was bombarded with complaints that his cellphone number had been used to scam people in his contact list. His contacts were called by two men who duped some of them into depositing cash into an account. One of the alleged conmen was a sentenced prisoner. NOW READ: Stock theft crisis: Police struggle to return hundreds of unclaimed animals to owners
