South Africa’s sensational gospel artist Dr Tumi and his wife have left fans disappointed after their arrest for allegedly defrauding the National Lotteries Board R1,5 million back in 2018.
Hawks Serious Commercial Crime spokesperson Captain Ndivhuwo Mulamu confirmed the couple’s arrest yesterday 6 April. The couple handed themselves over to the Hawks, escorted by their lawyer where they were immediately charged with fraud.
“It is alleged that the suspects, Doctor Tumisang Victor Makweya, also known as Dr Tumi (39) and his wife Kgaogelo Sara Makweya (36) were listed as committee members at a non-profit organisation”, said Captain Mulamu.
Captain Mulamu explanied that Dr Tumi and his wife submitted altered grant application documents to the National Lotteries Board for approval of funds on the projects.
“With the assistance of other co-accused Christopher Tshivule (46) and Thomas Ndadza (48) to submit the fraudulent documents, over R1.5 million was transferred to a private bank account”, Captain Mulamu explained.
The hawks have reported that Dr Tumi and his wife benefitted close to R760 000.00 from the funds. The couple immediately appeared before the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on 6 April 2021 and released on R3 000.00 bail each.
In response to the allegations, Dr Tumi took to twitter on the and posted that he recived legal advice not to comment as the matter is already a court case.
“As per legal advice, kindly note that we won’t be commenting on the current media reports, as the matter is before the courts”, said Dr Tumi.
The case was postponed to 7 May 2021 for docket disclosure.
Here are some social media reactions from disappointed fans.
I honestly don’t understand why Dr Tumi had to go for the National lottery money.
— MJ Ncube 🇺🇸🇿🇦 (@TherealMJNcube) April 7, 2021
Doesn’t he make enough already?
He is a medical doctor, and a very successful gospel singer for f*** sakes. pic.twitter.com/xnpLw6Q4qW
I’ll repeat this again…
— Limpopo hybrid. (@__reefa__) April 7, 2021
It’s okay to love someone and not condone their behavior.
Stop trying to rationalize the mess that Dr. Tumi is in using spirituality because you are misrepresenting Christianity and giving non believers more reason to criticize what we believe in.
