‘My life has completely stopped since 2001’ – fraud victim

Imagine waking up one day only to find that you are a victim of identity theft and owed the bank a cash loan worth R180 000 and a clothing retail credit amounting to R1 140.98, with no idea of how it could have happened.

This happened to Katlehong resident David Tshabalala of Ramokonopi West Section.

What he thought was the beginning of a decent life for his family after securing a permanent job in 2001, turned into 22 years of devastation for the family following a case of identity fraud.

Tshabalala’s identity was stolen and used by the now-convicted fraudster Josse Thobela from Welkom, Free State.

He possessed a duplicate of Tshabalala’s ID, with identical ID numbers, date of birth, name, surname, and an unlike photograph.

Another different element on the ID is the date issued. They issued the fake ID on July 7, 1999, compared to March 9, 1994, on Tshabalala’s green book ID.

Thobela used the ID to open a bank account with Absa, where he took a R180 000 loan and R1 140. 98 credit at HomeChoice and other amounts owed to clothing retail shops like Truworths.

Before getting a permanent job offer at Meter Engineering (ME) in Wadeville, Germiston, Tshabalala was doing part-time work or fixed-term contracts between 1998 and 1999.

He said during that period he never thought of opening a bank or credit accounts. He started working for the engineering company in 2000 and became a permanent worker the following year.

According to him, he found out about the fraud crime during a visit to a Game Store at Alberton, together with his partner, Ntswaki Mathithibala (48) on a Saturday.

“I wanted to buy a grass cutter cash, but my partner convinced me to lay-by it. The cashier tried to open an account for me but later said it would not be possible, as I was black-listed. She told me that one of my accounts was in arrears of R1 140.98,” Tshabalala.

“I was puzzled because I never had an account in my life. This was my first attempt to open one. When I asked which shop I owed, she replied HomeChoice, but I did not know the shop or what they sold,” he continued.

“My partner told me they sold blankets, pots and curtains, among others. That moment really hurt me because I thought my partner could think I was buying those things for another woman out there.”

He said the cashier advised him to open a case with the SAPS, however, he could not comprehend how he was going to explain who he was pressing charges against.

“I wanted to know who used my details to open a credit account on their system but they refused and instead I registered a case.”

Frustrated as he was, Tshabalala immediately went to Alberton SAPS to report a case. The question he asked the cashier about the identity of the fraudster, he also asked the police.

He said his case was not lodged. The police asked who they were going to arrest if the suspect was unknown. They requested him to visit HomeChoice to find out.

“I told them I did not have a photo of the suspect. However, there is an address in Welkom where the orders were delivered.”

On Monday he relayed his situation to his employer, who offered that he work half a day on Friday, to get time to sort out his challenges.

“On Friday, I knocked off at 10 am. I met with my partner at the Natalspruit Taxi Rank, and we took a taxi to HomeChoice in Johannesburg. Upon arrival, I explained what I was told at Game and they confirmed it, citing that it was true that I owed them money.”

He said he requested copies of information and a photograph of the account holder, but unfortunately, they said they could not provide them.

“That is when I realised this thing was serious. It started bugging me. My employer gave him a day off for Tuesday and advised me to go to the Department of Home Affairs,” said Tshabalala.

He stated when he visited DHA in Germiston he was told they issued him with an ID in 1994 and he returned in 1999 to report his lost ID, and it was issued again.

“I told the DHA official the same ID their system says was lost, was the same ID in my hand and I have never lost it.”

He said when he asked how this whole thing happened, the officials said they did not know and generally accused people of selling their ID to illegal foreign nationals.

“He made me look stupid. I had a serious problem, and I skipped work, which meant I was not getting paid for that day.”

Tshabalala also visited the DHA in Pretoria but was met with the same response.

The beginning of the worst

He said an incident that made him aware of the seriousness of his challenge was when they went to the ESCO Plant in Newcastle.

“We use IDs to enter the premises. There are three gates, and they scan the IDs before the gates open.
They scanned the driver’s ID and it was approved and my ID was denied. The security guards said they didn’t know me, I don’t work there; I work at a mine in Welkom.

“We waited at the gate for two hours. I had to explain my challenge to the security guard and ask him to restart the scanner. After rebooting, it immediately approved and the security gave him a tag indicating that I was verified, to avoid going through the same process at the second and third gate,” he said.

Another incident was when he received debt reminder letters and calls from HomeChoice and Truworths.
Tshabalala is a passionate runner. He could not even sign up for a membership subscription with a gym because of the arrears.

At some point, they paid his salary into Thobela’s Absa bank account. This left Tshabalala with an assumption that they did not pay him, more so because his colleagues had received their income.

He said he spoke to the company HR the following day, who told him they paid everyone’s salaries.

“She said I should go to Standard Bank to ask them to check on their system because, on the company’s side, money was paid.

When I got to the bank, they said they could not help me. I asked to speak to the manager, and she confirmed everyone was paid. However, mine was blocked, and they paid the money into an Absa bank account.

As she was checking on the system, she found that the Absa account is linked to the address where the HomeChoice orders were delivered in Welkom.

She then faxed a photograph of Tshabalala to Absa and requested them to fax Thobela’s photograph, who was using the identity of Tshabalala.

“She gave me a copy of the photograph. She said it would help me given that I could not get assistance from police because I could not identify the suspect.”

Signals and false hope

In his mind, having acquired a photograph that could assist police in investigating the case, the arrest was imminent.

I reported the case at Katlehong South SAPS (Ramokonopi) and they transferred the case to Welkom SAPS for investigation.

“After a week, I received a call from inspector Mobe from Welkom, who informed me they received my case and he will send the case number and the investigating officer’s details via post mail.”

“I received it after a week. He said he was currently tracing the suspect and promised to call once he found the suspect. We arranged a day for him to come to Gauteng to take me to Pretoria to check my fingerprints.”

He said Mobo told him he found the suspect. He knew where he worked, but he could not arrest him without confirming. However, the suspect knows there is an identity fraud case at Germiston DHA.

“He called in the morning to inform me that they would meet later, as he would go straight to Pretoria because he had the suspect’s fingerprints.

“When we met at Germiston, Mobe apologised for not arresting the suspect and added that he was not a problem because they had his fingerprints and they do not appear on the system. He further said he wanted to verify my fingerprints, and that they reflected on the system.”

According to Tshabalala, as they left the police station, Mobe told him he was going to arrest the suspect.
Mobe later called to inform him that he had arrested Thobela and that he would update him regarding the court date.

“I expected an update on Friday. I was worried about having to travel to the Free State to attend court. I concluded that if it means I would have to hire a car to go to court, I will do it,” he stated.

However, Tshabalala noted that Mobe never called him until he decided to initiate the call on the following Tuesday.

“Mobe told me I should not be surprised by his silence as they are still arranging, but said he would call me. The month concluded without getting feedback. I called again at the time he portrayed himself as a person who was very busy and promised to call back.”

Tshabalala said Mobe had become inconsistent, and he picked up signs that something was wrong.

As the police continued to drag their feet on the case, he was still facing challenges because it was as if he was a non-documented illegal migrant in his birth country.

“Eventually, he stopped answering my calls as he had both my personal and work number. Until I decided to call him on a public phone, he became very annoyed when he noticed I was the caller. Mobe said to me, I told you that I will call you. I could hear in his tone that he was annoyed.”

“When a person has been arrested, they cannot be kept in the holding cells for over two days without appearing in court. I suspected that there could be an element of corruption in my case. There is a possibility that Mobe was bribed,” he noted.

He decided to leave the IO and follow up with the Katlehong South SAPS. He went to Katlehong South SAPS to open the case again in 2004, but they said they could not register it because it already existed in the system.

“When they asked what happened to the initial case, I told them I was confused, and that I suspected that the IO could have been bribed.”

He said at some point, he wanted to go to Welkom to fetch the suspect because he had the address.

“This also frustrated my friends. They suggested that I go to Welkom to kill the suspect because the police could not help me. But I refused because we would take the law into our hands and it would not assist because my ID was still nonfunctional. We had to allow the law to correct the wrongs,” he said.

He later found the RDP house he registered in 1999 was issued to the fake David (Thobela) in Welkom.

“This was revealed after I saw some people I registered with receive the keys to their houses. I decided to follow up with the Department of Human Settlement (then Department of Housing) and found that I have a house.”
The address matched with the Welkom address where HomeChoice delivered online orders.

In 2017, he visited the Licensing Department to renew his vehicle licence disk, where he found that he owned a white double-cap Toyota Hilux bakkie.

He was told that he could not renew the disk for his WV Jetta because his Hilux was in arrears.

Tshabalala could no longer use his vehicle, as he was told to pay for the Hilux first before he could pay for the Jetta.

They transferred his case to Sergeant Lekalakala, and he resigned a few months later without informing the victim.

During his visit to the police to follow up with Captain Phago, he meets an old cop friend who checked his case on the system.

They found that the case was heard in court and dismissed due to lack of evidence.

However, what shocked Tshabalala was that the information on the police system suggested that he attended court, which was not true.

They transferred the case to Sergeant Sipho Mokoena.

Light at the end of the tunnel

Mokoena stayed in touch with Tshabalala. He tried to find out how the suspect could have obtained Tshabalala’s information. Together, they visited the DHA and SARS to check if he owned them.

The hopeless Katlehong resident praised Mokoena for his commitment to solving the case. He restored his trust in the SAPS, which failed him for many years.

Mokoena managed to arrest Thobela, at 29114 Lesedi Lethabong, Welkom on December 9, 2021. After the arrest, the police froze all his accounts and ID.

“When I received the call informing me of the recent developments. I could not believe it. I wanted to see this person with my naked eyes,” said Tshabalala.

He said Mokoena told him that Thobela attempted to bribe him on their way to Gauteng after the arrest.

The matter went to court for almost two years before Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court convicted Thobela to eight years of direct imprisonment.

Despite the matter being concluded in court, his life remains stuck because he cannot use his ID.

“I was not fully satisfied. I thought the court was going to at least help me to get my life back on track.”

He resigned from his job to focus on resolving his case and before he could get his UIF and pension fund.
After his resignation, he worked as a night shift cleaner at Ramokonopi Clinic. He is currently struggling to get his UIF for his duration of working at the clinic.

“Next year my child is going to secondary school. I need the money to buy school uniforms and stationery.”
His partner Mathithibala said affected the family badly because they had to buy everything in cash, they could purchase nothing on credit or take loans.

“We have six children and I am unemployed. He was the only one working. Losing his ID to the fraudster created many problems for us. Although we are a bit relieved that the case is over, the ID is still useless,” said Mathithibala.

Kathorus Mail has sent an inquiry to the DHA and DHA. The response will be shared once made available.