28th July 2011

Cop ‘stole’ church cash

A SOWETO policeman is facing charges of robbery after he allegedly used a blue light and his police identity card to rob two men of about R150 000 in church donations.

A robbery victim told the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday that Nhlanhla Ngwenya, 47, an officer at Diepkloof police station, and Thamsanqa Matshoba, 33, had posed as police officers during the robbery in August last year.

The two accused were earlier seen sitting together in the public gallery, but Matshoba’s case was heard separately later, after he pleaded guilty to theft. He implicated Ngwenya in the robbery, in which money belonging to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) was stolen.

Matshoba said Ngwenya had invited him to “do some job and make some money”, and they drove together in a VW Polo to the Joburg CBD on August 30. In the inner city, Ngwenya flashed blue lights and stopped a Nissan Navara.

Matshoba said Ngwenya spoke to the Navara’s occupants, then asked him to drive the two men’s car and follow the Polo.

He told the court they drove out of the CBD to the south, where Ngwenya searched the Navara and transferred bags of money into the Polo before they left