By Staff Reporter
MBOMBELA-The Mpumalanga Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sitting in Middelburg has sentenced former attorney Mantladi Jo-Anne Mmela (43) to ten years’ direct imprisonment after she was found guilty of stealing more than R4.1 million from her clients’ Road Accident Fund (RAF) payouts.
Mmela was convicted on four counts of theft committed between June 2019 and March 2022 while operating as a sole practitioner at Mmela Attorneys. She had successfully lodged RAF claims for several clients, with the compensation transferred into her firm’s trust account — money she was legally obligated to release to the victims. Instead, she kept the funds for herself.
The case was exposed when one of the victims reported that Mmela had failed to pay out their RAF settlement. A police investigation followed, leading to her arrest in 2022.
Although she was initially released on bail, she later absconded, resulting in a warrant being issued for her arrest. She was re-arrested in February 2024 and has been in custody since.
Despite pleading not guilty, the State — led by Senior State Advocate Henry Nxumalo — presented overwhelming evidence proving that Mmela had deliberately withheld and misappropriated her clients’ payouts.
The court sentenced her to 10 years’
imprisonment on Count 1, 10 years on Count 2, 4 years on Count 3, and 6 years on Count 4. The sentences on Counts 2, 3, and 4 were ordered to run concurrently with Count 1, leaving Mmela with an effective sentence of 10 years’ direct imprisonment.
