TWO men posing as traditional healers have been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment for defrauding a man of millions after convincing him to quit his job so they could access his pension.
The Eastern Cape Hawks’s Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team arrested the pair on March 18, 2021. The victim had sought the services of the supposed healers in East London’s CBD in July, 2019.
According to the Hawks spokesperson Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana, Kiseka Rashid, 46, and Tony Lubenga, 34, had convinced the victim they were communicating with his ancestors and persuaded him to resign from his job to access his pension fund.
“On July 1, 2019 the complainant visited a traditional healer at East London CBD where he was taken to a consulting room and then attended to by the accused who introduced themselves as traditional healers.
“During the consultation, the complainant was made to believe that he was talking to his ancestors. Subsequently, he was also influenced to resign from his job to get all his pension money. He later did resign.
“After resigning from his job he was instructed by the accused to withdraw all his pension fund money and to bring it to them as it would multiply, they vowed. The complainant followed their instruction, as a result he was prejudiced out of R3 million. The matter was then reported to the Hawks for investigation,” said Mhlakuvana.
Mhlakuvana said the accused were sentenced to 10 years’ direct imprisonment each in the East London Regional court on July 4.
The pair was additionally sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for contravention of the Immigration Act.
Cape Times