South African State Theatre CEO Sibongiseni Mkhize is hoping to see a play of a different kind, one in which justice is meted out to the eight people accused of stealing more than R24-million from the arts organisation.

Sitting in the gallery of the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Pretoria, Mkhize looked on as two former State Theatre employees and their six co-accused made a first appearance on charges of money laundering, fraud and theft.

As the accused entered the court, they tried to conceal their appearance by covering their faces with jackets, hoodies and face masks.

The accused - Thabo Mashaba, 37, Sibongile Mabena, 41, Dimakatso Konaite, 40, Innocentia Matseke, 44, Dimakatso Mashishi, 38, Pauline Hlongwane, 59, Mokgadi Getrude Mooka, 44, and Maletsatsi Motswetsi, 29 - were all arrested by the Hawks between Tuesday and Wednesday morning following an investigation launched in 2018.

According to the State, Mooka, a former credit controller in the finance department, and Mabena, who did administration work for the supply chain management department, siphoned approximately R24 828 704.03 from the theatre between 2014 and 2019.

They allegedly accomplished this feat by creating invoices, using letterheads of existing companies and suppliers to the State Theatre, and then changing the banking details to those belonging to their co-accused.

The accused allegedly created 275 such invoices, with payment amounts ranging from R10 000 to R350 000.

The supplier names used in the scheme include the City of Tshwane, Independent Newspapers, Telkom, Ultra Liquors and Primedia.

The jig is up

News24 previously reported that the State Theatre was first alerted by Absa Bank to a number of suspicious transactions.

Mkhize called for an audit as the first step in the investigation, which confirmed the misappropriation of funds.

In addition to opening a criminal case, the theatre also approached the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to retrieve the money from Mooka and Mabena in 2020.

Judge Nicolene Janse van Nieuwenhuizen ordered that they pay back a total sum of R24 681 265.01.

Mooka has since been dismissed, while Mabena resigned shortly before the allegations became public.

Mkhize told News24 on Wednesday that less than a million rand had been recovered.

Mkhize said:

We are now putting our hopes on justice, so that people will be made to account for what they did. What is important to us is that there must be accountability for the monies that was stolen from the South African State Theatre.

Mkhize added that it was not just a theft of State Theatre cash, but effectively the theft of taxpayer money.

Bail granted

All eight accused were granted bail on Wednesday afternoon, with bail amounts ranging from R1 000 to R 5 000.

Most of the accused said they were unemployed and cited having to look after minor children and elderly parents as reasons that would be in the interest of justice they be released on bail.

Mooka, in an affidavit, told the court that she intended to stand trial to its completion, and would be able to pay bail of R1 000, which would be raised by friends and family.

The State did not oppose the bail applications, telling the court that there were no grounds to oppose.

The prosecutor, Lucas Moseki, told the court that investigations into the matter had been finalised, and asked that the matter be postponed to 27 February 2024 for disclosure of the docket.