A Pelikan Park woman wants to warn mense of an alleged scammer whom who ran off with R25 000 she had paid him to build a Nutec house - but all he ended up doing was clean her mom’s yard.
The 38-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous, says last October she was contacted by a man named Carlos Mapurati from KB Project after she inquired on Facebook Marketplace regarding Nutec houses.
She says they agreed on a design and she transferred R23 000 to his bank account, and later paid the other R2000 to get the ball rolling.
The woman says after she paid the money, Carlos and his men arrived at her mother’s home to clear the area where the Nutec house was to be built, but that was all they did.
“His guys were working and cleaning the yard. I just came out of the night shift so I fell asleep. I then woke up and asked my mom where they were,” she explains.
“They told her they were taking the rubble away and that is the last time I saw them.”
She says Carlos “seemed legit”: “I was not suspicious because I wanted the place done because I moved from Belhar.”
She says Carlos blocked her on social media, and she then found out his real name was Knowledge Bhokwani from Zimbabwe.
She made a police case and then decided to create a fake Facebook profile in a bid to catch him out.
“I created a fake profile under the name Nadia Salie and I told him I got my provident fund and needed paving. He quoted a price of R20 000.
“I notified the detective, I got there and we caught him and he said he was going to give me R5000. He went to jail but he is now saying that he is also working for someone,” she says.
Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Malcolm Pojie, confirmed a 31-year-old Zimbabwean citizen was arrested and charged with theft in November 2023.
“He last appeared in (Wynberg Magistrate’s Court) on 5 March 2024 when the case was postponed to 6 May 2024, pending further investigation. He was granted bail.”
When the Daily Voice tried to contact Bhokwani, he didn't answer calls, or messages on his company’s WhatsApp number, or messages via his social media platforms.
The hartseer woman says she suffered a major financial loss: “I need my money because the cost of living is expensive. I was going through depression. I want to expose this guy because there are maybe more people that he did this to.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za