BULAWAYO – Singer Sandra Ndebele has been named as the owner of nearly $90,000 allegedly stolen when an illegal foreign currency trader was robbed in Colleen Bawn, Matabeleland South.

Big loss ... The musician Sandra Ndebele is reported to be a big player in the foreign currency trade
Big loss … The musician Sandra Ndebele is reported to be a big player in the foreign currency trade

Lindiwe Moyo claimed she was a passenger in a car with two men and a woman when they stopped in the cement-producing town for a recess on their way from Beitbridge to Bulawayo.

When she re-emerged from a convenience store, the car had sped off with her suitcase full of money, she told police.

The money comprised $80,000 bond notes and US$8,330.

Now, Ndebele apparently wants her money back, The Chronicle reported on Monday.

It is being reported that Ndebele gave the money to Simangani Gwemende, of Emganwini, whom she allegedly uses to trade foreign currency on the black market. The latter then subcontracted Moyo, who lost the money.

Ndebele has allegedly given Gwemende a payment plan to settle the debt of the lost money: US$1,000 every day.

The singer also apparently wants Gwemende to pay the money in United States dollars – a total of US$55,923.

“Sandra said she doesn’t care about Lindy’s stories as she never engaged her although she knows that this is how we operate. We operate as groups and in my last eight months working with her, I’m not the only one who has been delivering the cash to her,” Gwemende told The Chronicle.

“I usually tell her who would be bringing it to her. But because the money has been stolen she blames me alone. She is now demanding that I give her US$1,000 per day and forced me to sign an affidavit to that effect.”

Ndebele told the newspaper she had no idea what Gwemende is talking about and denied making her sign an affidavit.

Foreign currency trading on the black market is illegal, and the government blames the trade for knocking the value of the surrogate bond note currency and keeping cash away from the banking system.-ZimLive