Sunday Times E-Edition

How alleged R4m thief evaded police

By TANKISO MAKHETHA

● Despite her name and photo appearing in newspapers, former security guard Bathobile Mlangeni, 31, managed to evade police for more than two years — and at least one neighbour says he’s sorry she has been caught.

Mlangeni is charged with theft after she allegedly strolled out of the Mall of Africa shopping centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, in July 2019 with a trolley containing R4m in cash.

“She did not kill anyone. There are people who steal more than that and they do not get arrested,” said Tshepo Nzimande. “That girl is a lovely person. She never showed that she had money; I did not see anything that showed that she had a lot of money.”

Mlangeni, who worked for SBV, a security company that processes, moves and manages cash and high-value assets, was on duty at the time of the alleged crime. She allegedly cut open two bulk cash bags with scissors and transferred the money into refuse bags that she placed in a trolley and pushed out of the centre.

A friend who housed Mlangeni at her four-room RDP home in Buhle Park, Germiston, for a month soon after the alleged theft, said she was surprised Mlangeni had been able to evade the authorities for such a long time.

The friend, who asked not to be named, said she was initially shocked by the accusations against Mlangeni.

“I was surprised when police came to my house in February 2020 to ask me about Bathobile. Before then I did not know anything about what she did.”

Mlangeni had called the friend, a mother of two, saying she was on the run from her abusive boyfriend and was seeking refuge.

“I found it odd because we were not really close; we met at a salon. She told me she needed a place to hide.

“After about a month she started dating some guy from here and they moved in together. They moved to Alberton in December 2019 and I did not see much of her after that,” she said.

After a tip-off, Mlangeni was arrested on January 6 this year in Zola, Soweto, about 10km from her family home in the township’s suburb of Dlamini.

She had been living with Vangile Dlamini, 82, in Zola since September. Dlamini is believed to be a friend of Mlangeni’s grandmother. Mlangeni had moved in supposedly to care for her.

“She was a lovely child,” Dlamini said this week. “We shared everything together while she was here. She did not live lavishly. She barely had any clothes and she would ask me for R5 or R10 so she could buy airtime.”

Community members told the Sunday Times they had no idea their neighbour was a fugitive. Sibusiso Mthimkulu said Mlangeni went by the name “Nathi” in the community and did not have friends.

“We were all shocked when we found out that she was arrested. We did not know her that well because she only started living here a few months ago. We’re amazed that none of us knew who she was,” said Mthimkulu.

Another neighbour, Thulani Mangena, said he wanted to know what had happened to the money. “I saw her a lot of times in the neighbourhood. Where is the money? She did not live like a millionaire,” he said.

Police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said Mlangeni is due to appear in the Alexandra magistrate’s court tomorrow for a bail application. The missing cash has not yet been found.

News Court

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2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-23T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://times-e-editions.pressreader.com/article/281711208027712

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