On
Speak Out tonight:
Episode Title: RDP House Fraud
Broadcast Date: Wednesday, 18 February 2009 at 21h30
Channel: SABC2
Tonight's Speak Out investigates Mr Mputle of Mputle Tourism who has over 50 men and women in the North West province gnashing their teeth over money and bakkies that they've lost to him.
The web he spun them all: he got people to contribute money and bakkies for a contract he landed with T&T appointments - a Johannesburg company that delivers telephone books.
T&T Appointments are mandated by The SA Post Office to empower black entrepreneurs in the business of distributing telephone directories in the area that each entrepreneur lives in. Mputle was chosen by T&T as an entrepreneur to cover the Western Province.
According to T&T the requirements of the contract with Mputle was that he has enough vehicles to cover the distribution of the directories in his designated area - which he told them he did - but didn't.
Not having enough wheels to deliver the books, Mputle devised a plan to get capital to get them. He created a sub-contracting venture in his community of Mafikeng. The basis of this contract was that prospective entrepreneurs in his area could buy a stake in his venture by contributing R55 000 as a deposit to get a bakkie to deliver the telephone books. He further promised that each member would receive a R12 000 monthly payment if they gave the deposit.
He also asked for people who could afford to buy their own bakkie and people who already had bakkies to join the venture. With each of these arrangements, he told everyone that each member needed to pay a further R15 000 as the start up capital for fuel during the first month of business.
Everyone who's contributed in either way has now been left high and dry: depositors haven't seen a cent of the promised cash and bakkie owners can't get their bakkies back.
The situation reached a climax when one of his victims stormed into his offices and seized his computers saying he was holding them ransom until he got his bakkie back.
Mr Mputle had him arrested for stolen property - all while he was operating with his victims’ bakkie - and keeping all the other bakkies in a secret storage facility in Pretoria.
Speak Out goes in search of Mr Mputle to investigate what can be done to deal with him.
Speak Out is on SABC2 on WEdnesdays at 21h30.