A bishop and founder of the International Bibleway Church in Sizinda suburb in Bulawayo is at the centre of a messy fraud storm after he allegedly duped two people with disabilities of their money.
He reportedly took advantage of their vulnerability and
coerced them to form an organisation claiming they were going to get donations
from the UK and United States of America.
Jebson Shoko from Buena Vista suburb allegedly hoodwinked
Zifa Moyo (57) and Claudious Shumba (43), both with disabilities and registered
Zimbabwe Disabled Persons Trust (ZDPT) in which he is the founder and the first
trustee, with Moyo and Shumba being the first and second trustees respectively.
It is alleged that he swindled them US$400 and US$600
respectively after he lied to them that he wanted money to start a chicken
rearing project, import duty for cars sent to them from America by donors and
money to register their disabled people’s organisation as a Private Voluntary
Organisation (PVO) so that anything that would be sent to them by donors would
be duty-free.
Shoko’s alleged worst kind of theft came to light after
Moyo and Shumba approached Bulawayo’s Small Claims Court suing him.
In their papers B-Metro is in possession of, Moyo and
Shumba claimed they decided to take the legal route fearing that the man of the
cloth would go around defrauding many people using the name of the organisation
and they would be answerable as trustees.
This was also after Shoko refused to sign their resignation
letters from the organisation.
“Plaintiff claim a total of US$600 plus R35 which was taken
on three occasions. Firstly, the defendant proposed a chicken rearing project
in March 2020 thereby he demanded contributions from the plaintiff. Secondly
the defendant claimed that the plaintiff was sent a car from America so he took
money claiming it’s for import duty and clearance and thirdly the defendant
took money from the plaintiff claiming he wanted to register their disabled
organisation as a Private Voluntary Organisation (PVO),” Moyo’s suit reads in
part.
Moyo’s circumstances were similar to those of Shumba’s in
which he is claiming US$400 and $ 1100 from Bishop Shoko.
In their founding affidavits the duo claimed Bishop Shoko
met Shumba sometime in January 2020, at an all-stakeholders meeting in Sizinda
and told him they should open an organisation for people with disabilities,
claiming they were going to get assistance from donors in the UK and America.
Shumba reportedly went and told Moyo who then agreed to the
decision and on 18 February 2020 the trio registered a Trust, Zimbabwe Disabled
People’s Trust in which all the three are on the board of trustees. They
reportedly recruited other people with disabilities and formed a national
committee.
“On 28 February 2020, he invited us to his church saying
that the so-called donors had come to see us. With other committee members we
went there and we were introduced to the six donors, three were said to be from
America and the other three from the UK. We thought we would have time to
discuss with the so-called donors but it never happened. We later realised that
the donors had come for his church only not for us.”
It is alleged that sometime in March 2020 after the
so-called donors had gone back, Shoko approached the duo claiming that the
donors had told him that they would support them if they were also doing their
own projects. So, he suggested a chicken rearing project in which the three
agreed to contribute US$20 each to purchase the chicks. Later on, Shoko
demanded money from the victim claiming he wanted to buy chicken feeds and he
was reportedly given.
It is reported that sometime in April 2020, while they were
still thinking the chicken rearing project was going on, the Bishop again
approached the two and told them that the donors had sent them cars from
America and he demanded US$500 from each of them saying it was for customs duty
for the cars.
The seemingly suspicious duo, after consulting other
people, asked for pro-forma invoices of the said cars, and Shoko reportedly
failed to produce them.
In September the same year, the victims claimed when they
approached Shoko and asked him about the progress of the chicken project, he
again didn’t give them satisfactory explanations.
During the same month Shoko approached the victims and
demanded US$50 from each of them claiming he wanted money for bus fare to go to
Harare to register their organisation as a PVO so that anything that would be
sent to them by donors would be duty-free.
It is alleged that the duo only realised they had been
duped when the Bishop became evasive and would not respond to their calls or
Whatsapp messages. Sometimes, they claim, he would respond to them in a harsh
way.
“When we asked progress on the registration of the
organisation, he didn’t give satisfactory explanation up to today. Taking into
consideration all these facts and his dishonesty as a man of cloth we feared
that he may be going around defrauding many people using the name of the
organisation as we may be answerable as part of the board of trustees.
“So, we decided to resign from the organisation and on the
15th June 2021, we submitted our resignation letters to Bishop Shoko and he
refused to sign them thus seeking the intervention of the court because he is
actually abusing our personal rights,” Moyo and Shumba argued in their
affidavits.
The matter which was supposed to be heard on 16 July 2021
was postponed to 27 August 2021. B Metro
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