adminApama members Thenjiwe Ngwenya and Never Sibanda died in a road accident on 21 July coming from a festival in Mozambique.
The pair is reportedly survived by their two children Ashley and Ayisha Sibanda.
In an interview, Thokozile Ngwenya said three weeks ago the family got a call from Alick Macheso’s manager Tsandukwa who was doing a follow-up on the donations they had handed over to Machowa to for the orphans.
“We received a phone call from Macheso’s manager who was inquiring on the donations they made for my younger sister’s children.
“He said they had given Machowa some money to assist Ashley and Aisha,” she said.
She said soon after having been informed about this issue, they called some members of the group and they confirmed the handing over of the donations.
Ngwenya said some members of the group alleged that Machowa had channelled the undisclosed amount into purchasing his car.
“We were surprised to be told that the money that was meant to benefit the children was used in purchasing a car.
“Right now we are struggling to take good care of these children since we decided to relocate them to Bulawayo,” she said.
Ngwenya said when they called Machowa inquiring about the funds, he denied ever getting donations from anyone to assist the orphans.
She added that the two families were struggling to get death certificates for the deceased couple.
“We might have been given documents to bury Never and Thenjiwe, but we are still supposed to go back to Mozambique for more papers.
“They told us that if we did not produce some more papers proving the death of the couple, they were not going to give us death certificates.”
Saturday Leisure called Machowa on the allegations that were being levelled against him and he said he only knew about the dancers’ association’s plans to help his group and not the families of the deceased.
“I was also surprised when the Ngwenya family called me in connection with the donations. I know nothing about them. If I bought a car, it was through my own money and not the funds they are talking about,” he said.
On the other hand, Alick Macheso’s manager, William Tsandukwa, confirmed the handing over of donations to benefit the two orphans.
“We did fund-raise for the orphans who lost their parents in a road accident and the money has since been handed over to Machowa who is in touch with the families,” he said.
Online Reporter