‘Healer’ arrested on R900k six-month swindle charge

THE Hawks have arrested a “traditional healer” from Beacon Bay for allegedly swindling a woman out of about R900 000.

Eastern Cape Hawks spokeswoman Captain Anelisa Feni said both cash and goods had been taken from the East London businesswoman, 58.

“The man allegedly acted as her traditional healer and apparently managed to con her out of this amount by promising to turn around her financial misfortune,” Feni said.

“He allegedly stole this money between August 2015 and February this year.”

Tandile Madikazi, 36, appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court yesterday. His bail hearing date is set for next Tuesday.

This year alone, three other people have been arrested by the Hawks for similar scams that saw many people – often in the civil service, especially teachers – being swindled out of their money.

In September, Joshua Kyebakolo, 34, appeared in the East London Magistrate’s Court accused of running a scam in which a former Komani teacher was conned out of more than R1-million of her pension money.

Kyebakolo is also alleged to have convinced the woman to resign from her teaching post in 2014 with the promise of “cleansing” her money and multiplying it for her. After she handed over the money, Kyebakolo disappeared.

It was the third such case investigated since April after the Hawks’ commercial crime wing embarked on a blitz to apprehend fraudsters.

Feni said that in April the Hawks had embarked on a campaign to warn the wider public about the scheme, as people purporting to be traditional healers or sangomas and targeting civil servants seemed to be on the increase.

She said the scamsters would convince their victims to resign from work so that they could call on ancestors to multiply the victim’s money.

Nalwanga Haawa, 36, was also arrested for allegedly defrauding a 60-year-old administration clerk from Sterkstroom out of R600 000. —