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Melissa Chekwa
A mother and daughter pair lost a cellphone and money in its mobile money wallet after a deal in a mealie-meal queue saw a man befriending them and stealing both their phone personal identification number, a court has heard.
Precious Ndlovu (51) and daughter Nobekezelo Ndlovu (22) were in a mealie-meal queue at Zapalala early this month when they were approached by Mathew Kamanga (36) who advised them that only cash was accepted for the purchase of mealie-meal at that point.
“He came and queued behind me then asked to talk to me. He said they (Zapalala) were accepting cash for the purchase of mealie-meal but we had EcoCash. I told my mother and she left to look for cash while I continued moving in the same queue while conversing with Kamanga,” said Nobekezelo.
When all was settled, Precious and her daughter were able to get the cash and secured two 10kg packs of mealie meal. Kamanga also got his 10kgs of mealie-meal.
Talk of twist of fate when strangers coincidentally meet twice in similar occasions in a single day.
“We then went to a different Zapalala branch and I was surprised to find Kamanga in the mealie-meal queue. I approached him and he offered to buy mealie-meal for me since he was in the queue but had no money to buy it,” said Nobekezelo.
Nobekezelo who accepted the offer reportedly made an EcoCash to bank transfer using her mum’s G-Tel phone and bank card because he was in a “swipe” queue.
Kamanga noticed the EcoCash passcode.
“I gave him the card which had money I had just transferred. He swiped one 10kg of mealie-meal and he accompanied me and my mother to the taxi rank with all of my three bags of mealie-meal. I boarded and left my mother behind,” she said.
When she had left, Precious realised that she didn’t have her phone. She reportedly went back to Zapalala to inquire but she found nothing there. She also called her daughter since she was the one using it in the supermarket.
“I asked from someone to call my daughter and she told me that my husband had already called and informed her that the person we bought our mealie-meal with was the one who had my phone as we had forgotten to take it back from him. He had called my husband and many people in my contact list using my phone.
“I then called Kamanga and he safely assured me that he was going to give me back my phone on that Sunday. I waited for him on Sunday but he didn’t pitch and the phone was no longer reachable,” said Precious.
However, Nobekezelo denied ever leaving the phone in Kamanga’s hands.
“I never gave him the cellphone and I don’t know how he got it because I did the transactions on my own and kept the phone,” said Nobekezelo.
In his defence, Kamanga said the phone was handed over to him.
“I do not admit to the charges levelled against me. I was given both the phone and the EcoCash pin number. But I failed to return the phone so I sold it,” said Kamanga.
This was revealed at the Tredgold magistrate’s court where State records provided proved that after disappearing with the phone, Kamanga went on to sweep Precious’ EcoCash account clean.
“After using the money that was in Precious’ EcoCash account, Kamanga didn’t hesitate to sell the phone,” said prosecutor Nathan Marime.
The stolen cellphone and money were not recovered. He was held in custody after pleading guilty to a charge of theft.
Online Reporter