A mistaken identity at the Komatipoort Magistrate’s Court resulted in the wrong accused being convicted and sentenced under another man’s case number.
According to The Citizen, George Ngobeni and David Dauro Ngoveni appeared in the same court on 24 July 2026. Both faced charges of contravening the Immigration Act 13 of 2002 for being in South Africa illegally.
Ngobeni’s matter was registered as case K212/2026, while Ngoveni’s was K213/2026. Both men were remanded in custody and were due to return to court in August.
Similar surnames lead to court mix-up
When the matters returned to court on 18 August, the prosecutor called case K213/2026 using only the surname.
Although Ngobeni and Ngoveni are spelt differently, the surnames are pronounced the same. Ngobeni went into the dock when K213/2026 was called.
He was then charged, pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced in the case that actually belonged to Ngoveni, The Citizen reported.
The problem only became clear when case K212/2026 was later called using Ngobeni’s full name. By then, Ngobeni had already been convicted and sentenced under the other case number.
The magistrate stopped the proceedings after realising the error and referred the matter to the Mpumalanga High Court for a special review.
High Court finds proceedings irregular
The Mpumalanga High Court in Mbombela found that convicting the wrong person amounted to an irregularity and was not in the interests of justice.
The court set aside the conviction and sentence recorded under case K213/2026 and ordered that the matter be sent back to the magistrate’s court for a new trial.
The High Court also found that there was nothing to review under Ngobeni’s correct case number, K212/2026, because no trial had taken place in that matter.
The ruling clears the invalid conviction caused by the identity mix-up and sends the affected proceedings back to the lower court to be heard again.
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