SANDF activity rip-off: ‘The General’ is unmasked

Pretoria – The man who allegedly scammed nearly three hundred people, luring them to the metropolis the usage of a bogus SANDF recruitment business enterprise seemed inside the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

And even as looking forward to court complaints, his entourage threatened and swore on the Pretoria Newsgroup.

Petrus Ndaba, fifty-five, typically known as “The General” using his “recruits,” will continue to be in custody till his next appearance on July five. He faces costs of fraud and theft.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said bogus recruitment organizations had been a hassle considering 2010 but admitted that the trendy rip-off in Karen Park changed into through a long way, the biggest.

“We have never visible a scam of the sort of huge importance with this sort of widespread wide variety of sufferers,” stated Dlamini.

The SANDF couldn’t confirm or deny that Ndaba was a colonel in its ranks, as claimed. “We are not privy to Ndaba being part of the defensive pressure, but we will deny it either; a heritage check will be conducted,” he said.

Dlamini endorsed the public to document such activities or any folks who solicited money from them with the promise of integration into the SANDF to the nearest police station or military base or station. Red flags need to be raised whilst a person requests money in exchange for employment.

“It does now not fee money to sign up for the SANDF. Members of the public are advised to report such sports if any man or woman or men and women solicit money from them with the promise of a job inside the SANDF.”

He stated the SANDF marketed jobs yearly in national newspapers, in addition to on its websites. “Once again, it’s far illegal to take gain of young human beings via promising them integration into the SANDF.”

Ndaba first shot into the highlight in 2014 while he led about 200 individuals of a collection of navy veterans known as Amabutho Royal Defence on a march to the Union Buildings.

The institution was known for President Jacob Zuma and Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula, to combine them into the SANDF.

He argued that Amabutho Royal Defence had the right to be absorbed into the military, similar to uMkhonto weSizwe and the Azanian People’s Liberation Army.

But this is not the first time Ndaba has hit the spotlight over alleged misrepresentations and making people pay for services no longer rendered.

Last yr, he was also in hot water for allegedly luring former Namibian freedom opponents to Pretoria on promises of pension payouts for their offerings in the course of the pre-independence struggle in that us of a.

According to the men who heeded his name, they had been stored prisoner and assaulted earlier than they were ordered out of South Africa.

In the same yr, Ndaba also promised former South West Africa Territorial Force participants and Koevoet infantrymen payouts from the previous apartheid government.

On Tuesday, a collection of young people elderly between 18 and 30 had been discovered at the streets of Karen Park, north of Pretoria, with luggage, blankets, and other belongings.

He allegedly introduced them to the town on the pretext of educating them for SANDF jobs. They have been kicked out of a house because of unpaid rent.

The Akasia police arrested Ndaba after the Department of Social Development swooped on the area, supplying food and water for the organization stated to have slept out of doors inside the cold for 3 days.

They rescued the young human beings, allegedly duped into paying “exorbitant sums of cash for schooling and enlisting within the SANDF.”

The victims have been recruited basically from KwaZulu-Natal. They had reportedly paid between R300 and R800 for registration R1800 for education and R200 a month due to the last yr.

Ndaba is said to have demanded payment for accommodations from them as well. He additionally promised them a revenue of R13 000 a month and stated they could take delivery of the possibility to observe similarly.

The ladies and men shared a 3-bedroomed residence with one restroom and used two Wendy homes, with ladies and men slumbering together. Some slept in the kitchen, passages, eating room, and front room.

They also had area sporting events or complete-scale rehearsals of army maneuvers as an exercise for conflict.

After completing their physical activities, the recruits said they had been compelled to do house chores like cleansing, portray the walls, or even plumbing and pavement installations.

It is said that Ndaba then solicited favours from woman recruits like massages. He allegedly groped them and had them rub his ft and returned.

A spokesperson for the Department of Social Development, Mbangwa Xaba, stated they were pleased with the rescued “recruits” development.

They had been supplied with brief shelter at the Salvation Army where they would be accommodated even as investigations preserve.

Xaba said they could be taken to the homes of their respective provinces.