A man claiming to be the son of former deputy president of Zimbabwe Simon Vengai Muzenda has been arrested for allegedly assaulting and defrauding a Silverwoods, Pretoria east woman.
Johnson Muzenda (50) was arrested earlier this month after a woman believed to be his girlfriend opened a case of assault, fraud and malicious damage to property.
“The suspect claimed to be the son of former Zimbabwean deputy president and also claims to have R149-million in his account,” said Boschkop police spokesperson Sergeant Yeroboam Mbatsane.
“The accused allegedly targeted divorced women and widows who were rich by promising to marry them.
“In this case, Muzenda made arrangements to use the complainant’s motor vehicle and would pay the monthly instalment but never did.”
Instead, the 50-year-old allegedly produced fake documents as proof of payment of the car, as well as other fake documents in an attempt to prove that he owned the complainant’s house.
“It is also alleged that Muzenda used two fake passports both of which have been revealed to be fake by home affairs and the Zimbabwean embassy,” Mbatsane said.
“He had a high court stamp that he used to certify the documents but never commissioned the documents.”
Mbatsane said investigations also showed that Muzenda had fake documents showing that he owned various properties in the Silverwoods estates which belong to the victim.
He planned to allegedly defraud the tenants to make payments directly to him.
“He also claims to own a company which deals with property increments, however, the investigations revealed it is non-existent.
“Investigation further revealed that the suspect dealt with similar crimes in KwaZulu-Natal where he robbed women of a huge amount using the same strategy.”
He allegedly tricked women in quick lobola negotiations while already staying with them at their properties.
Muzenda appeared in the Hatfield regional court on charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, fraud, theft and malicious damage to property.
He was expected to appear in court for bail application on 30 September.
Whether the man was truly related to the former deputy president of Zimbabwe was yet to be proven.