Facebook plea abuses Christmas spirit

A man who collected money for an apparently destitute family at Christmas has been accused by a group of kind-hearted Ballito residents of cheating them out of their money.

A few days before Christmas, a man going by the name of Daniel Reddy posted a plea for money via the Meet My Neighbour Ballito Facebook group. He claimed he had already contributed all he could afford, R500, to the family that needed R7 000 because they were two months behind on their rent, had nothing for Christmas and needed money for school fees when their six-year-old daughter returned to school in January.

He said he would spend Christmas Eve with the family, give them a nice lunch and then send pictures to the contributors.

Playing on people’s emotions, Reddy said: “His daughter even said she would write thank you notes to all that help them, which made me cry.”

Contributions poured in and Reddy collected a total of R8 150 for the “needy family”.

When contributors started asking about the outcome of Reddy’s fund-raising project, he replied: “I spent Xmas lunch with them and they were so happy. I will send through pictures to everyone. Thank you so much for your selflessness, God bless.”

To date, contributors have received nothing but excuses from Reddy, ranging from having lost his phone before losing his grandmother, to being on the beach with his family, to his family requiring his attention after he spent so much time with the needy family.

Group members Jaco Enslin, Helen White and Des Hobart said they have been left in the dark and are still awaiting feedback from Reddy.

Asked via the Meet My Neighbour site to provide his side of the story and the promised photos of the lunch, Reddy threatened the journalist and the Meet My Neighbour Ballito Facebook group.

“If my name, the families (sic) name or account details are published I will be on her and the paper like white on rice in an oriental restaurant. These are people’s lives and reputations. Meet My Neighbour will also be shut down during the course of the week seeing as you all enjoy playing God in other people’s lives. When everyone realizes this has always been the truth, I will make sure every last one of you apologise publicly in the least or are sued for damages,” said Reddy.

Group member Paul Landman said he believed Reddy’s Facebook profile to be a fake.

“I had another look at his profile and it seems clear it was created specifically to appeal to Ballito residents,” said Landman

Reddy has few friends, no photos of himself or anyone else, and according to his Facebook page, got married on December 19, 2015.

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