A BANK clerk who helped a gang steal nearly R10 million may get a presidential pardon. It is not clear how Phethuxolo Aubrey Godolozi was recommended for a pardon for a politically motivated offence when he was convicted of a robbery carried out in 1998.
Godolozi worked for Standard Bank in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape and helped a gang rob the bank of R9.6m in November, 1998. In May, 2002 he was jailed for 20 years. Six fellow conspirators were sentenced to 17 and 18 years each.
Three years ago their appeal was rejected. Now Godolozi is on the list of 149 recommended for presidential pardons.
This particular pardons process was set up in 2007 by then president Thabo Mbeki, and is for those convicted of politically related actions committed before June 16, 1999.
A parliamentary committee, with members from all parties, looked at the 2 300 applications and sent recommendations to the Department of Justice before the end of Mbeki’s term. The shortlist of 149 was finally released this week to comply with a court-ordered requirement that victims be consulted. These have until mid-November to comment.
The former chairman of the parliamentary committee, Tertius Delport, yesterday said he could not remember Godolozi’s case and no longer had access to the files. Standard Bank and the Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment yesterday
