Former cop sought in Ponzi probe
A FORMER police captain has gone into hiding after being accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of rands from civil servants across KwaZulu-Natal.
Muzi Mathe resigned last month after allegedly fleecing fellow officers, nurses, teachers, prison warders and prison guards through the Isiphetu Community Financial Club, which he ran. One family lost R150 000 in what has been dubbed a pyramid scheme.
KwaZulu-Natal police confirmed they were investigating Mathe for theft.
Mathe told the Sunday Times this week that he and his family feared for their lives because investors had threatened to kill him and kidnap his wife and children. A case of intimidation, opened by Mathe two weeks ago, is now being investigated.
Some of the investors in the company — which had offices across the province, all of which have since closed down — said they were given different excuses about where their money went.
Businesswoman Bongeka Ngwane said she invested R27 000 in the company after being promised she would double her money within a month. But when she went to collect the cash, she was told that the company had not received her investment.
“They now said that they don’t have the money because it was stolen by staff members. I’m very
We were colleagues and close friends. The worst part is I convinced my wife to take out a R100 000 loan
stressed because the money was for my son to go to university. Now I don’t know what to say to him,” she said.
Other investors were told that the offices in Durban, Port Shepstone, Pietermaritzburg and Newcastle were robbed, which is why their money vanished. They said no cases were ever reported to the police. In one incident in Eshowe, northern KwaZuluNatal, a security guard at Mathe’s offices was shot and killed during a robbery and R10-million stolen. The investors have accused Mathe of orchestrating the robbery, a claim Mathe has denied.
A Durban-based police superintendent said he could not believe that Mathe would defraud him. His family had invested R150 000 in the scheme.
“We were colleagues and close friends. The worst part is I convinced my wife to take a R100 000 loan from the bank and invested it in Mathe’s company. We have been left with a huge debt,” he said.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said Mathe would be arrested once the investigation was complete. A source close to the investigation said the investigating officers were waiting for more victims to come forward.
Mathe told the Sunday Times that it was the other 14 board members who were responsible for stealing the money.
“There are 15 board members, including top police officers, yet I am the only one being targeted. I’m not involved in the collection of money and I’m not even a signatory with the bank. They stole the money . . . to enrich themselves,” Mathe said.