Tears for buried cash

AT FIRST he thought he had hit the jackpot when he dug up thousands of rand buried in the ground.

But his joy soon turned to tears when he opened the plastic bag.

The huge pile of one hundred rand notes was worth nothing! The tragic story of madala Gezani Mokhatjane’s underground treasure starts seven years ago. That’s when the 92-year-old madala died and took his secret to the grave with him.

This Friday his son Nyiku Mokhatjane discovered that secret — the madala buried R10 100 in his back yard! “I stumbled on a faded plastic bag buried in the ground and I just knew I had to keep on digging,” Nyiku told Daily Sun. “I was very excited. I carried on digging until I discovered a stack of money in a plastic bag. At first I thought I was dreaming, but then I realised what I saw before me was real.”

Unemployed Nyiku said he was over the moon when he discovered the hidden treasure.

But his joy was shortlived. “I realised the stack of money was worn out by the soil. When I took it to Absa in Malamulele they said the money was useless because some of the serial numbers were gone,” he said. He said he no choice but to take the worthless pile of cash home. Nyiku said his father made the money by selling his cattle, but the madala never used a bank or the post office. Nyiku’s friend Fani Hobyane (36) said he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the money.

“I kept asking myself how on earth the old man could die without telling his son about the money,” said Fani, scratching his head. – Daily Sun