Eastern Cape police have made yet another breakthrough in their ongoing investigation into the multimillion-rand fraud and money laundering scheme at the University of Fort Hare.
Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Avele Fumba says UFH's former Acting Chief Financial Officer Simbongile Geqeza, 41, former head of Investigation and Vetting Isaac Plaatjies, 57 and a family friend Claudine Davids, 44, appeared in the Alice Magistrates Court in Dikeni on Wednesday, facing charges of fraud, money laundering and corruption.
He says the arrests follow a detailed investigation that uncovered two fraudulent schemes draining R2 million from the university's funds.
The first case dates back to 2 September 2021, when Geqeza allegedly issued a fraudulent instruction to a bank authorising the illegal payment of R1.4 million to a company with no legitimate ties to the university.
Lieutenant Colonel Fumba says a second transaction was uncovered. It involved a payment of R985 000 to a service provider for investigative services that were never rendered.
He says that Plaatjies allegedly facilitated this payment in collaboration with the claimant, and the funds were then funnelled to Davids.
Plaatjies, arrested in 2023, was denied bail on separate charges related to the University Fort Hare scandal.
In November 2024, he appealed for bail based on new facts at the High Court in Bhisho, which was also dismissed.
Fumba says Plaatjies was fetched from prison to appear in court on additional charges before being returned to his cell.
His co-accused, Geqeza and Davids, were each granted bail of R10 000.
The trio will be back in court on Friday.
Plaatjies and nine other suspects are implicated in the murders of university fleet manager Petrus Roets and the vice-chancellor's (VC) bodyguard, Mboneli Vesele, as well as the attempted murder of the vice-chancellor, Professor Sakhele Buhlungu and his deputy, Renuka Vithal.
In denying bail in 2024, Magistrate Zwelethu Ngetu found that Plaatjies had a case to answer.
He said Plaatjies had failed to explain why his cell phone was the source of the murder hit list with the names and photos of the university's senior staff members.
The father of five, who said that he was not a flight risk, also allegedly made calls to the hitman and visited the hitman where he was accommodated before the hit on Vesele.
Ngetu labeled Plaatjies a dangerous and dishonest person and said he may interfere with state witnesses and evidence or put the VC's and his deputy's lives at risk.
Plaatjies is believed to have been behind the tender fraud scheme which milked the university over R170 million from 2019.
The state alleges that Plaatjies also used his position as the university’s director of investigations and vetting services to get financial kickbacks from service providers, namely Pentagon, Tarlec, Craig Retief, EL Reigns, Horizon, and Elvis Mutsakanyi.
