14/05/2026
ZIMBABWEAN SECURED SA GOVT JOB USING FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTS SINCE 1995
Co-accused lose Supreme Court appeal
By Fanuel Viriri
A Zimbabwean, Kedibone Masange (56), has been living illegally in South Africa since 1995 and secured a post as Mpumalanga Human Settlements Head of Department among other posts. Masange was arrested on 1 September 2020.
However, Masange’s co-accused and former Acting Director of Public Prosecutions for Mpumalanga, Matric Luphondo, has had his bid to halt prosecution dismissed by the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) of South Africa. Luphondo argued that prosecutors lacked authority to charge him.
Luphondo is facing seven counts of corruption and three counts of defeating the ends of justice in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria. The charges stem from allegations that he conspired with Masange, former Head of Department in Mpumalanga, and a now-deceased police officer to bribe the prosecutor handling Masange’s fraud and illegal immigration case.
According to the State’s indictment, Luphondo met the prosecutor twice in March 2023 and allegedly offered a bottle of 18-year-old Glenfiddich whisky worth R1,550 and/or R5,000 in cash to help Masange avoid prosecution. The matter came to light during an undercover “trap” operation conducted under s 252A of the Criminal Procedure Act.
At the start of his trial in May 2023, Luphondo pleaded not guilty. During a trial-within-a-trial on the admissibility of evidence, he filed a special plea arguing that the prosecutors had no “title to prosecute” him. He claimed the prosecution was not properly authorised under the National Prosecuting Authority’s Prosecution Policy Directives, which require written sign-off from the National Director or a DPP to prosecute categories of people including prosecutors.
The Gauteng High Court dismissed the plea in June 2023, ruling that while the s 75 letter used to transfer the case to the High Court was not formal authorisation, DPP Gauteng Mr Mzinyathi’s knowledge and inst
