A former senior manager at a Limpopo municipality and his wife have been granted leave to appeal a High Court ruling ordering the forfeiture of their R1.4 million Mercedes-Benz GLE 350d Coupe to the State.

Kgantshi David Malepa, former technical manager at the Mogalakwena Local Municipality in Limpopo, and his wife, Paulina Mmapule Malepa, have been given the green light by the Limpopo High Court, Polokwane Acting Judge Marianne Bresler, to challenge her September 2025 judgment declaring that the couple forfeited to the State their Hyacinth red Mercedes-Benz GLE 350d Coupe motor vehicle.

The luxury car is subject to the preservation of the property order granted in July 2021 and is kept at the police’s Seshego, Polokwane, pound.

In her judgment handed down on Wednesday in the Malepas’ application for leave to appeal, Acting Judge Bresler granted leave to appeal to the full court of the Limpopo High Court, and that the costs of the application will be costs in the appeal.

Acting Judge Bresler ruled that, in the court’s view, the potential difficulty in determining the balance of probabilities in an application and the extent to which a court must deviate in determining an application in terms of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act constitutes a sufficient compelling reason for the appeal to be heard.

The couple had stated that the acting judge erred insofar as a finding that was made on the balance of probabilities, while it is trite law that application proceedings are not designed to determine probabilities.

In her September 2025 judgment, Acting Judge Bresler said she was asked to determine if the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has shown, on a balance of probabilities, that the vehicle is the proceeds of unlawful activities and was satisfied that the NPA was able to show that it is entitled to the relief it sought.

However, in their grounds for appeal, the Malepas said Acting Judge Bresler had erred in evidential findings to the extent that she failed to consider all the evidence filed in the present and previously withdrawn proceedings.

The couple is accused of buying the vehicle with the proceeds of unlawful activities, namely, corruption and extortion, as it was bought by two service providers for the municipality.

It was then registered in Mmapule’s name, and upon investigation, the municipality established that some of its funds were paid to her Unlimited Liquor Restaurant.

NPA Limpopo spokesperson Mashudu Malabi-Dzhangi said the Mogalakwena case was postponed to next Friday, January 30, 2026, for oral submissions in the pending review application.

The Malepas initially asked Polokwane Specialised Commercial Crimes Court Magistrate Matlaba Kganyago to recuse himself, but their application was dismissed and they stated their intention to launch a review application to the High Court.

loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za

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