Bathobile Mlangeni concluded her brief court appearance on Monday morning, where she stood on theft charges.
Bathobile Mlangeni theft case: What is the latest news?
This was the 29-year-old’s second court appearance she was arrested last week after an exhaustive three-year search. The woman accused of stealing R4 million from cash-in-transit company SBV Services in 2019 forced a postponement last week Friday when she applied for legal aid, claiming she could not afford a private defence attorney.
On Monday, the court was, yet again, forced to postpone proceedings after Mlangeni’s new lawyer asked for more time to study the contents of the State’s case ahead of the bail hearing which has been rescheduled for Thursday 24 January 2022.
What evidence does the State have against Mlangeni?
The last time Mlangeni, a former cash-in-transit security guard at SBV Services, reported in for duty was on 15 July 2019. On that day, aged 26 at the time, Mlangeni was tasked with overseeing the movement of R4 million bank notes from a facility at the Mall of Africa.
However, neither the money nor Mlangeni surfaced that day. The guard fell off the face of the earth along with the R4 million. According to evidence gathered by South African police, it’s believed Mlangeni had every intention of stealing the cash.
Gauteng police spokesperson Cpt Mavela Masondo alleged, at the time, that Mlangeni had used a pair of scissors to cut open the bag that carried the large sum of cash and stuffed it in black refuse bags.
Thereafter, she brazenly walked out of the shopping mall pushing the millions with a trolley.
A search operation ensued and for more than two years, Mlangeni, who is originally from Dlamini, Soweto, evaded authorities. What authorities did not know, however, was that the guard was hiding in plain sight the entire time.
Mlangeni had left her home and sought refuge at the home of her late grandmother’s friend, an 82-year-old woman named Vangille Dlamini, in Zola, Soweto.
“She did not live lavishly She barely had any clothes and she would ask me for R5 or R10 so she could buy airtime,” Dlamini told Times Live in a recent interview.
At this time, the R4 million Mlangeni allegedly stole has yet to be recovered.
