Isaac Dithlakanyane – one of the ringleaders behind a SA Postbank scam which targeted clients' bank accounts – turned to the SCA to appeal against the fact that he was twice convicted under the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (Poca), based on the same facts.

The Mercury reports Dithlakanyane also appealed against his 40-year imprisonment, which he claimed was shockingly harsh.

In 2015, the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria) sentenced nine fraudsters involved in the scam to an effective 1 680 years combined for defrauding the Postbank, forgery and uttering, money laundering, stealing from unsuspecting persons' accounts as well as racketeering.

Dithlakanyane, identified by the state as one of the main characters behind the scam, was sentenced to 50 years in jail. This was later reduced on appeal before the High Court to 40 years behind bars.

Dithlakanyane turned to the SCA in a bid to have one of his convictions under Poca set aside, as he said the second conviction under this Act is based on the same set of facts and evidence, and this amounted to a splitting of convictions.

He earlier received a sentence of 30 years in jail for the Poca conviction, which he now says is a duplicate charge.

The SCA said it was clear from the evidence that Dithlakanyane was closely linked in time and place to the fraudulent transactions, notes the report in The Mercury.

However, the court found that he cannot be convicted on two Poca charges based on the same evidence. 

The SCA subsequently overturned the first Poca conviction for which he had received 30 years. But the SCA said the sentence of 20 years' imprisonment imposed by the trial court and reduced by 10 years by the full Bench on the other Poca conviction, is startlingly inappropriate and inadequate for an offence as serious as this, which the legislature ordained to be punished with life imprisonment.

‘If this court does not interfere with this sentence, the administration of justice could be brought into disrepute. This sentence is contrary to the objectives of Poca to appropriately punish those who participate in organised economic crimes within the prescribed sentences ordained by the legislature,’ the SCA said.

It overturned the 10-year sentence on this charge and replaced it with 30 years – which is the effective sentence Dithlakanyane will now have to serve.

Full report in The Mercury

Judgment