The woman who allegedly conned 17 people money amounting to E174 260 after promising to organise a cruise for them has been granted bail fixed at E87 130.
Thandeka Mamba (33) of Mangwaneni Mbabane, was granted the bail by Manzini Principal Magistrate David Khumalo yesterday as Mamba made her first court appearance.
Mamba moved a bail application through her lawyer, Linda Dlamini which was not opposed by the Crown.
When motivating the bail application, Dlamini told the court that his client had two children who were dependent on her.
He also pointed out that his client would abide by all the bail conditions. He further stated that Mamba was a Liswati national, born and bred in Eswatini and she had no ties outside the county.
Furthermore, Dlamini stated that Mamba surrendered herself to the police, an indication that she harbours no intention of evading trial. He added that she had already spent two nights in custody.
Magistrate Khumalo mentioned that when granting bail, the court would consider the issue of surety. He stated that vehicles or fixed property, among other things, could be used as a subject matter of surety.
He asked Dlamini if his client would be in a position to provide same to the satisfaction of the court.
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In response, Dlamini said his client was offering to provide cattle as surety, but Magistrate Khumalo stated that livestock was not acceptable since the cattle might be stolen or die due to diseases such as the foot and mouth disease (FMD).
Magistrate David Khumalo yesterday. (Pics: Lucky Simelane)
He also informed Dlamini that according to the law, the value of the surety should be half the total amount of the alleged stolen money. He pointed out that since the money alleged to have been stolen by his client amounted to E174 260; the bail would be fixed at E87 130, which was half the amount alleged to have been unscrupulously stolen by Mamba.
Magistrate Khumalo said a sum of E7 000 must be paid in cash and the remaining E80 130 should be in the form of surety.
Dlamini mentioned that they were offering a vehicle as a form of surety and Magistrate Khumalo responded that the surety must be to the satisfaction of the court, saying since it was a car, he has to inspect it as opposed to them presenting a blue book or the car registration documents.
“In some cases, you find that only the blue book and car registration exists, but the motor vehicle itself is non-existent, so I want to inspect the vehicle to satisfy myself if indeed it exists and scrutinise its condition to find out if it equates to the value provided by the court,” he said.
Khumalo said the court must satisfy itself that whosoever was tendering the vehicle was indeed the owner of the car and must provide corresponding documents.
He pointed out that in the past; it happened that people would surrender their cars as surety, only to find out that they were not the true owners of the vehicles.
“The true owner would later show up to claim the car and the court will remain with no surety,” he said.
He added that part of Mamba’s bail conditions was that the vehicle in question should not be disposed of, she does not interfere with Crown witnesses or evidence, she does not commit a similar offence while out on bail and that she comes to court each time she is ordered to do so. The matter returns to court next Wednesday, pending setting of the trial date.
Meanwhile, Mamba was slapped with eight counts of theft by false pretences after she allegedly conned eight people the aforementioned amount of money by promising them that they would go to a Durban cruise, knowing very well that this was not true.
