Former acting Mpumalanga Director of Public Prosecutions Matric Luphondo has been axed | News24

Former Mpumalanga prosecutions boss Matric Luphondo. (Phill Magakoe/Gallo Images)

• Matric Luphondo was axed after being found guilty of offering a bribe. 
• Luphondo is accused of offering a bribe to a senior prosecutor to drop a fraud case against Kebone Masange.
• Luphondo and Masange are also facing corruption charges relating to the same matter. 

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Former acting Mpumalanga Director of Public Prosecutions Matric Luphondo was fired after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of offering a bribe to a prosecutor to make a criminal case disappear.  

Advocate Mthunzi Mhaga, the spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), said Luphondo was dismissed on 30 July following an arbitration process.

“The allegations of bribery, alternatively gross dishonesty against Luphondo are a contravention of clause 4.3.4 (a) of the NPA Code of Ethics,” Mhaga said.

“The NPA adheres to strict anti-corruption policies and practices and has a zero-tolerance approach to corruption within its ranks.”

Mhaga added:

Luphondo was suspended in April 2021 and put through a disciplinary hearing after allegations emerged that he had tried to bribe a senior prosecutor, advocate Andrew Mphaga, to withdraw a case of fraud and contravention of the Immigration Act case against Kebone Masange, the former head of the Mpumalanga human settlements department.

Masange was accused of being in South Africa illegally and using fraudulent documents in his application for the head of department position.

News24 previously reported that Luphondo allegedly met up with the prosecutor at a McDonalds in Pretoria, and handed him an 18-year-old bottle of Glenfiddich whisky, valued at R1 550, and R5 000 in cash. He allegedly also told the prosecutor there would be more.

Luphondo is also on trial in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria on corruption charges relating to the same matter.

In June 2024, Luphondo and his co-accused, Masange, pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption, defeating the ends of justice and conspiracy to commit corruption.

A third accused, former Hawks official Ayanda Plaatjie, died before the matter went to trial.

Title to prosecute

At the start of the trial, Luphondo, through his defence team, brought a special plea, where it was argued the prosecutors had no title to prosecute because there was allegedly no written authorisation to institute a prosecution against him.

The prosecutors include well-known advocate, Barry Roux SC.

Judge Anthony Millar dismissed the special plea, finding that the letter was nothing more than a procedural mechanism for the transfer of the case.

Millar further found that, in the present case, the Director of Public Prosecutions was not required to authorise the institution of a prosecution in writing when the decision to do so was taken by him.

After being denied leave to appeal Millar’s decision, Luphondo, through his defence team, petitioned the Supreme Court of Appeal directly.

While the SCA first dismissed the bid, the petition was relodged, and Luphondo was granted leave. They are now waiting for a date to argue the appeal.

Trap

Before the trial was postponed, the court started hearing evidence in a trial-within-a-trial as the defence challenged the admissibility of an undercover operation authorised to catch Luphondo allegedly paying the bribe.

Luphondo challenged the authorisation for the operation, the entrapment itself, and the alleged evidence obtained.

The court heard that Mphaga approached the Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Vernon Nemaorani, after Luphondo and Plaatjie allegedly contacted him, offering a bribe to drop the case against Masange.

From there, Nemaorani called a Hawks official from the Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit to his office and a trap was subsequently authorised.

Advocate Danie Dörfling, for Luphondo, said there was no record of when the application and affidavits for the trap was authorised.

The trial-within-a-trial is currently in the air, as the appeal before the SCA is still pending.