BLOEMFONTEIN – The Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court has convicted two individuals and a local dealership on multiple counts of fraud and money laundering connected to a corrupt state vehicle auction scheme on Monday, 24 August 2026.
Jeanne Kellerman, a 55-year-old former senior administrative clerk at the Bloemfontein Government Garage, was found guilty alongside her 40-year-old accomplice, Mohammed Cajee, and the corporate entity MNS Cars.
The convictions follow a thorough investigation into institutional corruption that took place over the course of 2023.
The criminal scheme unfolded during a series of public auctions held at the Government Garage. Throughout 2023, Cajee successfully bid on 18 state-owned vehicles, accumulating a total purchase price of R1,163,758.
Under standard departmental policies, Cajee was required to settle the outstanding balance in full after paying an initial R150,000 deposit before any vehicles could legally leave the facility.
However, Kellerman used her administrative position to bypass these mandatory fiscal protocols. Investigators established that she intentionally released all 18 vehicles to Cajee without the remaining balance being paid.
To ensure the vehicles could exit the premises undetected, Kellerman actively fabricated misrepresentations to the facility’s security office, effectively deceiving internal oversight mechanisms.
The irregular removal of the fleet prompted a formal report to the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation team based in Bloemfontein.
A deep-dive forensic investigation subsequently exposed financial links between the co-accused, revealing that Kellerman had accepted a R10,000 kickback from Cajee in exchange for manipulating the release forms. Following these discoveries, the court issued warrants of arrest for both suspects.
The legal process began moving forward swiftly when Kellerman and Cajee surrendered themselves directly to Hawks investigating officers on 14 November 2023, where they were processed and formally charged.
Following Monday’s convictions, the judicial process will move toward penalisation. The Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court has scheduled sentencing proceedings to resume on 13 October 2026.
