Priced to sell quickly — to many buyers
Convicted fraudster admits syndicate ran property scam
● Slindile Buthelezi thought she had hit the jackpot when she purchased two properties for R250,000 with a payout she had collected from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) after her son was hit by a car.
But it backfired badly when she discovered she had fallen for an elaborate property scam. The four-roomed home she bought at 37 Rockbury Place in Eastbury, in Phoenix, Durban, for R120,000 for herself and her three children, had been sold to more than 20 buyers.
Buthelezi could also not secure a second property at 35 Stonemanor Road in Trenance Manor, also in Phoenix, which she bought for R130,000 as an investment, as its sale was also part of the property scam.
Now the 36-year-old unemployed woman from Ulundi in northern KwaZuluNatal, who used to rent a shack with her children before the R600,000 RAF payout for her 10-year-old son, is renting a five-bedroom home for R1,500 a month at Inanda Newtown A, in Durban.
She has already spent R3,000 on lawyers’ fees in a bid to recoup her money from Pravesh Singh, who sold her the two properties in cahoots with a bogus lawyer identified as Lynette or Sunette Potgieter, who facilitated the deeds of sale.
Singh was arrested in November 2016 after being charged with fraud relating to the property scam. He was sentenced to 10 years wholly suspended on condition that he undergo correctional supervision. He has now turned state witness.
Buthelezi said the properties were advertised in a daily Zulu newspaper which listed Singh’s cellphone number.
“I called Pravesh and he said I must come and view the house. He said his father-inlaw was moving to Pinetown and they were leaving the furniture behind because the house they were moving into was furnished.
“I was desperate to move into my own house and I called him several times to get this matter sorted out because I had spent thousands of rands. When he told me to get a lawyer to handle it I knew that I had lost the money.”
She was due to move into the house before Easter in 2017 after she had concluded a purchase of sale agreement in October 2016. However, Singh gave her the runaround and eventually advised her to retain a lawyer to get a refund. It was then that she realised the title deed was still in the name of his mother, Mala Singh.
Proof of payments seen by the Sunday Times show that Buthelezi bought the second property, in Trenance Manor, on February 2 2017 for R130,000. But when she realised the sale, also concluded by Singh, was part of the scam, she cancelled the sale agreement.
This was confirmed by the owner of the second property, Malthie Rathinand Bharat, in an affidavit submitted to the police in September last year in which she said Potgieter had assisted with the sale but later informed her that Buthelezi had cancelled the deal. Buthelezi was repaid only R10,850.
“This has caused me a lot of strain,” Buthelezi said. “I became depressed when I found out that I had lost this kind of money. I have now even exhausted the money I had saved because of renting the house that I live in. All my money has been wasted.”
Linda Mjoli, an electrician from Avoca in Durban, who fell for the same property scam, is now suing Singh’s mother and a man who purported to be a lawyer when he purchased the 370m² property in Eastbury for R170,000 in October 2017.
Another victim, Dennis Nzuza, purchased the same property for his 32-year-old daughter for R170,000 in cash in 2017.
But after the 65-year-old father of four from KwaMashu township had concluded the sale agreement, which was facilitated by Potgieter, Singh told him he was no longer selling the property because his mother had died.
It was only after Nzuza opened a case of fraud against Singh at the Phoenix police station that he was told the same property had been sold to many people and the matter was the subject of a police investigation.
The Sunday Times has established that the same property was sold for between R100,000 and R170,000 to various buyers.
Potgieter didn’t respond to queries for comment about the allegations. However, after queries were sent to her, she called Buthelezi and allegedly threatened to sue her if she did not retract her allegations.
Singh, who initially declined to comment, later admitted that a syndicate was involved in the property scam and the house may have been sold to more than 20 people.
Both the police and the National Prosecuting Authority have confirmed the matter is being investigated by the provincial Organised Crime Unit.