Richards Bay businessman zapped in Zimbabwe

If a former Richards Bay businessman arrested in Zimbabwe for alleged fraud is extradited, he will face a long queue of angry former friends and associates who are reportedly collectively owed millions of rands.

Johnny Herman Saaiman was named by Zimbabwe police following his arrest on 23 September, and subsequent court appearance on the 29th.

According to posts from the Zimbabwe Herald, he faces three counts of fraud related to failed grocery supply deals with various Bulawayo-based companies, in addition to a charge of undocumented possession of precious stones.

After his arrest, he was remanded in custody pending trial, but through his attorneys has reportedly argued that the case stemmed from ‘a contractual misunderstanding, where a delay in the delivery of goods was mistakenly interpreted as fraud’.

What is not unclear, however, is that the former Bay rugby player left the area reportedly collectively owing big money to people who had placed full trust in him to make vast profits from their investments in a ‘wholesale diesel’ venture.

This reportedly includes close family friends, club teammates and pensioners who invested in his ‘wealth-creating scheme’ in 2022.

“I feel totally betrayed and angry,” said one.

“We fished and braaied and partied together. In fact, another one in our fishing group was talked into investing about R6-million.

“We kept on waiting, giving him the benefit of the doubt because we trusted him as a friend, which meant we never opened cases with SAPS.

“At first we all got a bit of money back, but that soon stopped. We even had a WhatsApp group with him and the people he owed money to, but we were eventually blocked.

“I called each person on that group separately and got their story. For me, it was personally devastating financially, as I had just bought a house and was hoping to pay it off quickly.

“We have had two years of empty promises, even trying to recoup money via Sars and the NPA.

“We still live in hope that we will be refunded.”

It is understood from one of the complainants, but not confirmed, that the Hawks are investigating the matter.

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