By Teboho Moloi
QWAQWA-The Phuthaditjhaba magistrate court has granted Motlatsi Nelson Khalane 31 bail of R5 000 when he appeared briefly on Tuesday 14October following his arrest on fraud charges that amount to R1.5million.
Khalane was investigated by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime following being awarded funds for student accommodations for the university of Free State Qwa Qwa campus.
Warrant Officer Fikiswa Matoti alleged that khalane through his company, submitted an application to the University of the Free State (UFS), QwaQwa Campus, to be considered for the provision of student accommodation.
“In his application, he claimed to have 215 rooms available to accommodate students. The application was approved, and funds were subsequently paid into his company’s business account between January 2023 and December 2024,”said Matoti.
However it was revealed during the verification process, that the accused had lied as the two stands provided in the application stood empty with no rooms built. She added that , UFS suffered a financial loss of more than R1.5 million.
The matter has been transferred to the Bethlehem Commercial Crimes Court on 11 December 2025.
