Ugandan foreign national Christopher Masereka, also known as Moses Mawaza, is behind bars after allegedly scamming a former teacher and lover of her pension money.
Masereka-Mawaza, 50, was remanded in custody after his first appearance before the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court yesterday for allegedly scamming a 46-year-old former teacher and lover of her hard-earned pension money she had accumulated over the years of her service.
His formal bail application is scheduled for Friday, October 20.
According to information at police disposal, the duo allegedly committed a mutual relationship in March. Two months down the line, the suspect allegedly deceived his partner and told her that he was in the logistics business.
He allegedly further advised her to resign from work so that after cashing out her pension money she could pump it into the business, which they would run as partners in return.
It sounded interesting and promising that the business would be booming and the former teacher fell into a trap and resigned in May.
When her pension savings were paid into her account in August, the lovebirds decided to withdraw the money (total figure withheld for investigation purposes) over three transactions in one day.
“Information in our records revealed that the former teacher gave all her withdrawals to her partner,” said Mpumalanga provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala.
He said that from that time onwards, the alleged swindler played hard to get.
The Ugandan national allegedly ignored the victim’s calls, relocated to another accommodation and finally changed his contact numbers.
It became clear to the former teacher that she had been scammed, hence she registered a case of theft under false pretence with the Nelspruit police.
Mohlala confirmed that an investigation was conducted which led to the arrest of the suspect on October 8.
He said the suspect was charged with theft under false pretence and contravention of the Immigration Act.
Mohlala said the Home Affairs Department would be roped into the investigation to ascertain the legality of the alleged swindler in South Africa.
“Police cannot rule out possibilities of adding other charges as similar incidents have been reported in the past in the province. Police therefore urge other community members who might have been victimised in a similar way to come forward and assist police on their investigation,” said Mohlala.