A teacher who was experiencing financial difficulties resigned from her job and paid over R510000 of her pension money to a man who promised that she would receive a gratuity of R5-million from her ancestors.
Instead, her money disappeared along with the purported healer, known as Yanja.
Bukeka Mashiya, of East London in the Eastern Cape, has opened a case of fraud against her former lover Kayiwa Haddi, allegedly a member of a Ugandan syndicate that preys on vulnerable women to get their money.
Mashiya had gone to the healer in May last year, allegedly on Haddi's advice, after finding herself in financial trouble.
She was advised to resign from her job, cash in her pension fund and invest the money with the healer, supposedly on the advice of her ancestors.
She handed over the money - contained in a safe she had been instructed to buy especially for this purpose - to the healer in a darkened room in Southernwood.
But, shortly afterwards, the healer, the safe and the money disappeared.
Haddi, 30, who has been in South Africa since 2007 and lives in Beacon Bay with his wife, has been charged with fraud.
According to commercial crimes prosecutor Wayne Jafta, the syndicate preyed on women to extract their money and Haddi was a member of the conspiracy.
Jafta told Haddi's bail hearing at the East London Magistrate's Court that the accused's role in the syndicate was to ensure that vulnerable women fell in love with him so that he could influence them to consult with his associates.
Jafta said Haddi's participation in the alleged scheme to defraud Mashiya netted him R160000, which he used to buy a luxury car.
He said two other Ugandan nationals faced similar charges.
Haddi told the court he had been tortured by investigating officers to make certain concessions about the claims against him.
Asked why he had not also invested money with the healer, he said: "I didn't give him my money because I didn't know him."
The accused said he and Mashiya were "still talking nice as lovers".
In a similar case reported last year, a Mdantsane teacher lost R1.6-million of pension and personal money when she was duped by a syndicate using the same methods into believing she would receive "blessings" from the ancestors totalling R8-million.
In that case, Rashid Magezi, also a Ugandan national, was jailed for two years for his role in the scam.
He was ordered to pay back the R30000 she handed to him directly as security for the "blessings".
Healer disappears with teacher's R510,000 pension money
A teacher who was experiencing financial difficulties resigned from her job and paid over R510000 of her pension money to a man who promised that she would receive a gratuity of R5-million from her ancestors.
Instead, her money disappeared along with the purported healer, known as Yanja.
Bukeka Mashiya, of East London in the Eastern Cape, has opened a case of fraud against her former lover Kayiwa Haddi, allegedly a member of a Ugandan syndicate that preys on vulnerable women to get their money.
Mashiya had gone to the healer in May last year, allegedly on Haddi's advice, after finding herself in financial trouble.
She was advised to resign from her job, cash in her pension fund and invest the money with the healer, supposedly on the advice of her ancestors.
She handed over the money - contained in a safe she had been instructed to buy especially for this purpose - to the healer in a darkened room in Southernwood.
But, shortly afterwards, the healer, the safe and the money disappeared.
Haddi, 30, who has been in South Africa since 2007 and lives in Beacon Bay with his wife, has been charged with fraud.
According to commercial crimes prosecutor Wayne Jafta, the syndicate preyed on women to extract their money and Haddi was a member of the conspiracy.
Jafta told Haddi's bail hearing at the East London Magistrate's Court that the accused's role in the syndicate was to ensure that vulnerable women fell in love with him so that he could influence them to consult with his associates.
Jafta said Haddi's participation in the alleged scheme to defraud Mashiya netted him R160000, which he used to buy a luxury car.
He said two other Ugandan nationals faced similar charges.
Haddi told the court he had been tortured by investigating officers to make certain concessions about the claims against him.
Asked why he had not also invested money with the healer, he said: "I didn't give him my money because I didn't know him."
The accused said he and Mashiya were "still talking nice as lovers".
In a similar case reported last year, a Mdantsane teacher lost R1.6-million of pension and personal money when she was duped by a syndicate using the same methods into believing she would receive "blessings" from the ancestors totalling R8-million.
In that case, Rashid Magezi, also a Ugandan national, was jailed for two years for his role in the scam.
He was ordered to pay back the R30000 she handed to him directly as security for the "blessings".
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos