Athlete scams friends

2003-12-24 08:40

Christi Naude

Pietermaritzburg - A well-known Pietermaritzburg runner has apologised for his "mistake" of clearing a woman's bank account of R117 000 within three months, as well as blowing R10 000 invested by two sport development officials on himself.

Their money was intended to buy stock for a sport shop.

However, the remorse of Jabulani Mnikathi, 29, does not help unemployed accident victim Lindiwe Jila, 29, and her four-year-old child, who desperately need the Road Accident Fund money to buy a house.

"I trusted Jabulani, whom I met through his sister. He was caring and supportive and I even trusted him with my [bank account] PIN number," said Jila, who is still suffering as a result of the accident.

She was stunned when she received a call from the bank in January to notify her that it was about to close her "empty" account.

Bank statements revealed that Jabulani had withdrawn R1 000 every day, as well as huge PIN pad withdrawals, which cleared the account in no time.

When confronted, the gold medallist apparently told her that he put the money on fixed deposit to get more interest.

Money still missing

Ten months later the money was still missing and Jila laid a charge at the police station. A police officer who assisted the young mother said the athlete promised to pay the money back by last Saturday, but this never happened.

Also waiting anxiously to get their "investment" back from the runner are Mdu Zulu, 27, and Sifiso Mnikathi, 28, who met him through the Msunduzi sport development programme.

"He told us that he could get sportswear at cost price from Nike, which sponsors him. If we gave him R5 000 each for stock, we could open a sport shop. He's a nice guy and it was an excellent idea."

Three months later, there was still no stock and when they went to look for the "warehouse" in Durban, they could not find it. Their partner became very evasive, they said.

Nike sport marketing manager Rowan Jones told the Witness that the star athlete runs for the Liberty Nike club but the company has never had any agreement with Mnikathi, other than helping him with shoes and clothing for himself.

Mnikathi confessed to the Witness that he spent both Jila's money and his partners' money on himself. "I used the money to cover my travelling costs and to enter races."

He said it was "a stupid mistake" and he should have told them. "But I am not running away. I will give them the money back by mid-January, as I am a man of my word."

Asked how he will get it back, he said he has an investment in a Johannesburg pipe company, of which he could not remember the name.

- The Witness