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A Zimbabwean attorney accused of swindling his Road Accident Fund (RAF) clients out of millions of rands, appeared before the East London Magistrate's Court on Thursday for a formal bail application.
52-year-old Manfred Chinamasa, who was a lecturer at Fort Hare University and has a law firm in the City, was arrested by the Hawks in his Beacon Bay home on fraud and corruption charges.
The bail application was postponed to 22 February when more charges will be added.
One of his victims, Zikhona Flepisi, reached out to Algoa FM News. She was a student at Fort Hare and sought the services of Chinamasa after her father, Zwelinzima Mceka, was in an accident in 2018.
"I thought he was ethical and would be able to assist given that he had a reputation to uphold."
She says when Chinamasa took over the case, he explained that he was only allowed to take 25% of whatever amount was offered by the fund.
In 2021, RAF paid out close to R1.1 million to an account registered under the suspect’s name. However, Flepisi said they were advised that they would not get the money without a "transmission report” from RAF.
“We did the run-around with him until we went to RAF about the report, and we were told that there was no such report. Chinamasa was supposed to have paid us in November 2021.”
The Mceka family sought other legal representation and went to the Grahamstown High Court so that the attorney would be forced to pay back the claim.
The judge ruled in their favour, however, Chinamasa still did not pay the over R800 000 that was due to them after he had deducted his fees.
Flepisi says her father, having lived in a shack most of his life, was enthusiastic to build his family a house, “it is unfortunate that he passed away before he could see Chinamasa being brought to justice for his alleged crimes.”
The prosecutor handling the case, Advocate Siphamandla Ngxokolo says more people are coming forward and that more charges are expected to be added against the suspect.
