{"id":32362,"date":"2026-04-18T12:06:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:06:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=32362"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T10:06:51","slug":"sa-freezes-assets-in-alleged-uif-covid-19-fraud-case","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-freezes-assets-in-alleged-uif-covid-19-fraud-case\/","title":{"rendered":"SA freezes assets in alleged UIF Covid-19 fraud case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s (SA) Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has secured a court order to freeze assets worth about $981 000 linked to an alleged Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) fraud scheme.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The order follows an investigation into Lubelo Hlomuka Holdings, trading as SA Scrum Assembly, whose Director Nhlakanipho Mngomezulu is accused of unlawfully receiving funds from the Temporary Employer\/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>TERS was introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic to help employers pay workers affected by lockdown restrictions.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to SIU Spokesperson Selby Makgotho, the investigation found that the funds were diverted using so-called ghost employees and moved through multiple accounts in what appears to be a money-laundering operation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The SIU says Mngomezulu personally benefited from the scheme, receiving more than five million rand in payments meant to support workers during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":32363,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-32362","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA Special Investigating Unit has secured a court order to freeze assets worth about $981 000","published_date":"2026-04-18 10:23:19","news_description":"SA Special Investigating Unit has secured a court order to freeze assets worth about $981 000","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32364,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/32362\/revisions\/32364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=32362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}