‘Cricketer’ fraud alert
SOUTH AFRICA-BASED Dumisani Mankunzini has accused “haters” of trying to soil his name by generating a fake International Cricket Council (ICC) pay slip, purporting that the world cricket body paid him a hefty US$143 000 salary for December 2019 as a cricket analyst.
The fake pay slip, which has an ICC logo, is dated December 15 and states the next pay date as January 25, 2020, and is signed by one Imraan Zaeenab.
In an interview from South Africa yesterday, Mankunzini dismissed the pay slip as fake, adding that the only correct figure on it is his medical aid cover of US$4 000.
According to the fake pay slip, Mankunzini’s gross income and bonuses amount to US$103 500, a housing allowance of US$5 500, US$4 300 in travelling allowances and year-end bonus of US$60 000.
The alleged deductions include the US$4 000 for medical aid, funeral cover pegged at US$2 200, employee retirement plan of US$7 000 and PAYE of US$6 695.
“No mate, it’s not real,” said Mankunzini, when he was asked if the pay slip circulating on social media is real.
“It’s people trying to tarnish my image. None of my documents have Bongani. There’s a bit of truth in it, but that’s not my original pay slip”.
Asked if he worked for the ICC, Mankunzini said: “No, I’m not on the ICC payroll, it’s people trying to tarnish my image. I’m in the ICC media zone only. It’s only medical aid figure, not from the ICC, but it’s the only correct figure from that pay slip. I’m currently at the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, doing cricket analysis and reporting.”
He could, however, not say for which organisation he’s reporting or doing cricket analysis for at the ICC Under19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa.
Zimbabwe Cricket yesterday made it clear that Mankunzini does represent them at any level.
“We would like to put it on record that Dumisani Mankunzini is not employed by Zimbabwe Cricket, nor does he represent Zimbabwe Cricket at any level and in any capacity whatsoever. We can also confirm the ICC contacted us to check if Mankunzini was a bona fide cricket journalist or not, after he had somehow managed to get accreditation to cover the just-ended ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. Since we could not vouch for him, we gave the ICC contact details of the Zimbabwe media houses that he claimed to be working for,” said ZC media and communications manager Darlington Majonga.
Mankunzini has a shady past and has been accused of swindling individuals in South Africa and Zimbabwe through misrepresentation to gain their trust. He has reportedly even swindled close relatives. Mankunzini claims to have played for the Zimbabwe national Under-19 cricket team and Tuskers, but it all turned out to be a big con, as the closest he ever got was attending trials at Tuskers which he failed.
Before relocating to South Africa, Mankunzini was accused of tricking parents and a guest house in Botswana after taking kids for a tour through his Dumisani Mankunzini Cricket Initiative.
He took money from the parents and pocketed it and somehow devised a successful plan to flee with the primary school kids from the lodge they stayed in Botswana without footing the bill.
There were reports that he defrauded a Zimbabwean couple of their life savings, after misrepresenting to them that he had been signed for a whopping R16 million (US$1.1 million) by a South African cricket team last year.
Mankunzini was unfazed by these reports.
“There are plenty of allegations against me. It’s people trying to tarnish my image,” he said. — @ ZililoR