A money lender without a permit will appear in Cape Town Magistrate’s court today for a bail application after Cape Town Central police caught him in possession of ID documents and South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) cards last Thursday, February 4.
Now the police are appealing to the owners, especially those who live at the Culemborg Safe Space, to come forward and give statements, and also get their cards back.
Raymond Masekela, also known as Big Show, was caught with three Sassa cards, 38 bank cards from various banks and two drivers’ licenses as well as R4 520 cash.
Cape Town police spokesperson Captain Ezra October said the man, who is a money lender, previously lived at the Safe Space until he was evicted for unlawfully lending money to people, then keeping their documents as collateral. He now lives on the streets of Cape Town.
Captain October said they have also found a log of 128 names of people who owed him money.
He said staff at the Safe Space noticed he was back at the premises to collect his money when they called the police. “We found him accompanying a man to the bank, and we arrested him.
He said people who couldn’t draw money from their accounts had now come forward because they needed the money.
“We need to find the owners of the cards so that they can give us a statement. This man was lending money without a permit to do so. These are vulnerable people living on the streets – they don’t know their rights, so they don’t realise that the man cannot be in possession of someone else’s documents.
Sassa did not respond to CapeTowner’s enquiries.
The City of Cape Town, which manages the Safe Space also declined to comment, saying that “it would be imprudent for us to comment on an ongoing investigation”.
