02 Aug 2020

Jwaneng magistrate, Mr Odirile Mokgatle on Thursday sentenced Prophet Bonang Ngwenya  to 18 months in prison and fined him P1000 after finding him guilty on four counts of personation, giving false information and undue influence, false declaration for passport and obtaining registration by false pretences

Prophet Ngwenya, who also identifies himself as Neo Tanka was ordered to forfeit all the documents he falsely obtained, being a national identity card, passport and driver’s license to the state.

Magistrate Mokgatle said that upon completion of the prison term, the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs would deal with the issue of Prophet Ngwenya’s nationality as he was not considered a Motswana.

The particulars of the offences are that in March 2016, Ngwenya made an intent to defraud the state by presenting himself as Neo Tanka in his application for a national identity card. The following month, he is said to have falsely made a declaration for purposes of procuring a passport, while in July 2017 he willfully obtained a driver’s licence under false pretences.

When passing sentence, Mr Mokgatle said that the main issue in the case hinged on the real identity of the accused. He said although the accused was adamant that he was Neo Tanka, the prosecution proved beyond reasonable doubt that he was in fact Bonang or Bonani Ngwenya from Zimbabwe.

He said that the prosecution had called witnesses who knew the accused from all walks on life, all of whom indicated that they never knew him by the names he preferred to identify himself with, but Bonang Ngwenya.

Mr Mokgatle also said that the accused person failed to assist the court when he chose to remain silent when he was given a chance to prove his identity, and that he also chose to call no witnesses who could otherwise have helped his case.

This, he stated was despite the court’s insistence that it was vital for the accused to do so.

It emerged that when he was being cross examined by the prosecutor, Inspector Edwin Supang earlier on during the trial, the accused indicated that he came from Thamaga where he did his primary school, but failed to name even a single teacher who ever taught him, or a single playmate during his primary school years.

It was observed also that the ward the accused claimed to have hailed from in Thamaga, Ramalekana, was in fact nonexistent. 

Mr Mokgatle also said the accused left the court wondering when he objected to the prosecution’s request to call as a witness, the woman he purported to be his mother.

“One would wonder why you would object to a key witness who could also assist your case,” he said. 

Magistrate Mokgatle said however that the court nonetheless called the said woman, one Margaret Tanka as a witness against the accused wish, and went a step further to conduct a DNA test.

“The DNA test came back negative, and Ms Tanka also pointed out before the court in your presence that she was not your mother,” he said. 

Magistrate Mokgatle therefore said that this left the court with no option, but to conclude that Prophet Ngwenya was never a Motswana in the first place, but most likely a Zimbabwean. He said also that the court was satisfied that the accused was never Neo Tanka, as he claimed.

In his mitigation, Ngwenya informed the court that should he be deported to Zimbabwe, it would be a destruction to his person as he did not know anyone in that country. He also pleaded with the court to be lenient with him as he had children who depended on him for daily upkeep, and that he recently opened a TV station that he needed time to wrap, as well as bid his congregation farewell. Ends