Date set for fraud case against Masiza

The trial of an estate agent accused of fraud, postponed last week as she was too ill to attend court, has finally been set down for October 16 after the court heard both the state and defence were ready to proceed.

Nomso “Tiny” Masiza appeared briefly in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday charged with defrauding two women out of more than R1m.

It is alleged that Masiza, who runs her own estate agency, Khulile Properties, and another company in which she is the sole member, Lumile Building Contractors CC, defrauded Joyce Ntsaluba of R850,000 and Nokuzola Mgengo of R200,000 during December 2015 and June 2016.

In both cases, Masiza allegedly entered into offers to purchase land for the two women in Fairview.

She then allegedly entered into agreements with them to erect residential dwellings on the respective land.

The money meant for the transfer of title deeds and for construction was paid to the bank account of Lumile Building Contractors, but no construction took place on either of the erfs and the transfers did not take place.

The state claims Masiza used the money for her own purposes.

Masiza did not attend her previous court appearance.

Her legal representative, Malan de Beer, said she was too ill to attend and submitted a doctor’s note detailing her condition.

State prosecutor Leigh-Anne Pillay-Selahle asked the court to postpone the matter to Tuesday for Masiza’s defence team to supply the court with a specialist’s report about her condition.

On Tuesday, attorney Danie Gouws for Masiza submitted the necessary reports and said he was ready to go ahead with the case.

Magistrate Hannes Claasen postponed the matter to October 16 for the start of the trial.

In December, Masiza and her husband, Port Elizabeth attorney Phillip Masiza, handed themselves over to authorities in a different matter.

It is alleged the pair defrauded Port Elizabeth businessman Greg Billings out of nearly R1m by allegedly participating in the fake sale of a house in Burt Drive and, in the process, conning Billings.

The house was allegedly owned by former ANC regional boss Zandisile Qupe.

After that court appearance, Masiza was placed under house arrest and granted R10,000 bail while her husband was given R5,000 bail.

That case against the pair is expected to be back in court on February 4.