'Kingpin bought six cars, two houses in 7 months'

In just seven months alleged illicit gold trader and kingpin Bethuel Ngobeni went on a shopping frenzy — splashing R4,2m on six cars and two homes and still kept R2,4m in his bank account. 

This is how fast Ngobeni allegedly spent the millions of rands he profited apparently from buying stolen gold-bearing materials from mineworkers in Carletonville, West Rand, and selling them on inflated prices in the black market.

The trial against Ngobeni and his co-accused is expected to start at the Pretoria high court today.

Ngobeni allegedly ran a multimillion-rand enterprise from Carletonville and Khutsong, west of Johannesburg, from around 2018 until 2023, until he and eight others were arrested in a carefully planned police undercover operation called Project Gillet, which ran for two years.

Although the state concedes it does not have evidence of all the money that was stolen but it is asking the court to draw reasonable inference that the assets of the accused were derived from the proceeds of illegal activities as they were not employed and did not have known legitimate sources of income.

Ngobeni, a Mozambican whose real name is believed to be Zingai Dhliwayo, Nhlanhla Magwaca (real name James Sigauke also from Mozambique), Zimbabweans Dumisa Moyo and Kudzai Mashaya and South African brothers Thabo and Moseki Sechele are the foremost accused. Others are Ngobeni’s lover Lerato Bathabeng, Poppy Mathongwane and Neo Duba.

They are facing charges of trading in illicit gold, money laundering, fraud, racketeering and violating the Immigration Act, among others.

Between June 8, 2020 and January 2021, Ngobeni allegedly bought six vehicles and two homes, all in cash.

In June 2020 alone, he allegedly purchased a Ford Ranger valued at R790,000, a Range Rover Evoque Dynamic for R594,000 (which he registered in Bathabeng’s name). On June 19, he allegedly made two more purchases, a Renault Clio for R70,000 (registered in Duba’s name); and a R845,000 house in Carletonville, the indictment revealed.

On August 20, he allegedly bought another house valued at R600,000 in Hoff Park, Potchefstroom. Sixteen days later on September 3, Ngobeni allegedly splashed his loot on a brand new Audi Q3 A Sportback which he registered in Mathongwane’s name.

After three months of no purchases, Ngobeni blessed himself with two more cars — a VW T-Cross for R400,000 and a VW T-Roc for R220,000 — on the same day, January 25, 2020.

Ngobeni has also laundered R22,4m through gambling at a casino. He had also spent R500,000 on a VW Amarok bakkie in 2018.

These purchases became a symbol of wealth for the members of the syndicate. Bathebeng’s house in Khutsong was fitted with CCTV cameras, high walls and a security gate. Bathebeng, one of Ngobeni’s three partners, called the house her comfort zone when she boasted about it on TikTok.

The indictment described Ngobeni as the syndicate's mastermind as he would be the first point of call for gold sellers.

“Accused 1 [Ngobeni] owns a car wash, which is not functional, and was the meeting place for transactions with buyers/sellers,” read the indictment.

It further said the syndicate members monitored the prices of gold every day on the stock market and would then negotiate the buying price. 

“The state further alleges that the funds so received by the enterprise through illegal sales of gold were laundered by the enterprise through various activities, including the purchase of expensive motor vehicles, purchase of houses, the purchase of undeveloped sites and the deposits of money made into various bank accounts.

“The accused did not submit income tax returns to the SA Revenue Services with regards to any of the monies they received in their illegal dealing,” read the indictment.

The state also alleges that the syndicate used shell companies to hide its money and to make purchases. One of those is Kumba Projects owned by the Sechele brothers. The company is registered as a construction firm but it does not have any history of work nor does it have vehicles.

Allegedly brazen were the Sechele brothers about their spending that Moseki in December 2020 even traded his fairly new Mercedes-Benz AMG for another one of the same model and spent R400,000.

“The only difference between the two vehicles was the colour,” read the document. 

Moyo, accused No 3, was another big spender. Between January 2019 and January 2021 allegedly spent R4,7m buying three houses and a Range Rover worth R2,5m. He had made several deposits into his three Nedbank accounts.

Some of the houses were registered in mineworker Bongani Khumalo’s name. Khumalo has since turned state witness.

“Accused 5 [Thabo Sechele] bought luxury immovable property and registered them in one Bongani Khumalo, who is a machine operator [at a mine] and does not have enough income to afford the purchasing of such immovable property. Bongani Khumalo has made a statement that the property belongs to accused 5,” read the indictment.

The state has enlisted 35 witnesses to testify. These include car dealership employees, department of home affairs workers and minerals regulators.