Pictures: Taxi boss nabbed for using 70 stolen Sassa Cards
Of late Sassa cards holders have cried foul over missing funds or money scams. In the wake of those fraud allegations, a notorious taxi boss was recently nabbed after being caught in possession of more than 70 Sassa cards which he was drawing out funds from.
His arrest barely comes after Durban Central District Task Team tracked down the kingpin and offered intelligence on the matter.
Upon his arrest, he was found in possession of Sassa cards and R7 640 in cash on him. He was released on bail at a sum of R5 000 bail after appearing in court on charges of fraud and being in possession of the stolen property.
Sthembiso Gcaba, 47, was into custody after the Durban Central District Task Team conducted a sting operation. Rumour has it that Gcaba was arrested while making some withdrawals at a local ATM using stolen Sassa cards.
The SARS, later on, followed up on his arrest and searched his lavish mansion in a Umhlanga estate. Many might know him well because of his rare limited Mercedes Benz AMG GT 63 S which once flooded social media and made all sorts of headlines.
Pictures: Taxi boss nabbed for using 70 stolen Sassa Cards
The rare Mercedes Benz is valued at a whopping R3.4 million and was confiscated upon his arrest. According to IOL, the car was one of his latest additions to his exotic fleet. The car was a new purchase by Gcaba and had not yet been registered when it was confiscated.
Sthembiso Gcaba was charged with fraud and in possession of the stolen property. According to evidence at hand Sthembiso Gcaba, had made 133 withdrawals, each R1 800 which totalled up to R239 400 according to TimesLive.
Chris Gounden, representing Gcaba, said his client had no previous convictions or pending cases. Gounden informed magistrate Vanitha Armu that Gcaba was a taxi owner but could only afford R5,000 bail as the taxi industry had been negatively impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is understood that Gcaba has more than 30 taxis in his fleet. In October he purchased two new Quantum minibus taxis for his firstborn son.
Meanwhile, Mandla Gcaba, who previously ran the Gcaba brothers’ taxi empire with his siblings, and who has close family ties to former president Jacob Zuma, denied that Sthembiso was his brother.