Sol's new acting boss has criminal record

THE NORTHERN Cape Civics Organisation has described it as a “disgrace” that the newly appointed acting municipal manager of the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Busisiwe Magagula, has a criminal record.

- SANDI KWON HOO

Members of the public were again instructed to leave the gallery when Magagula's appointment was discussed during a special council meeting on October 1.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), the Nelspruit Regional Court granted the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) a confiscation order against Magagula in March this year after she was convicted of fraud.

She entered into a plea agreement and was ordered to repay R780,000 defrauded from the Mpumalanga Department of Finance while she was employed as the senior manager of the provincial fiscal discipline unit between 2011 and 2013.

Magagula had been reimbursed more than R500,000 by the department in 2013 after submitting false subsistence and travel claims, according to the NPA.