A Namibian business woman, Ndapanda Helen Kambonde, is being accused of faking her own death to avoid paying back a P9 000 debt owed to her Botswana business associate Caroline Ngebani.
In an interview with The Voice this afternoon, Ngebani who trades in previously loved clothing bales, said she met Kambode through Facebook and engaged her services. “She delivered my first order without any hassles,” said Ngebani.
However, things took a nasty turn after the local lady placed her second order.
Ngebani became suspicious when Kambonde ignored her calls and failed to honour the set deadlines.
“I deposited money in to her account, which she acknowledged receipt of. Now when it came to delivering my order, Helen has been playing hide and seek with,” said an irate Ngebani.
She said she expected to receive her bales on Friday 11th, but that did not happen, and Kambonde was off-air the entire Saturday. “On Sunday she told me she was heavily pregnant and was due to deliver on Monday. I had an exam on Monday, and my entire focus was on my school work,” she said.
However Ngebani got the shock of her life when someone claiming to be Kambonde’s husband sent her a poster announcing her sudden demise.
“I could not believe what I was seeing. It just didn’t feel right that this lady died on Monday and the next day there’s a flyer announcing her death,” she said.
“Although it seemed an insensitive thing to do, I went ahead and demanded my money back. I had a gut feeling, the said husband was actually Helen playing me for a fool,” charged Ngebani.
Ngebani said she later reported the matter to the Namibian Police who did very little to assist her. “I also reported the matter to First National Bank,” she said.
“My biggest worry is I now have clients who want their monies back, and my credibility as a business person has been dented by this lady. I really need financial assistance to pay back my clients,” she said.
Attempts to get a comment from Kambonde were unsuccessful as her mobile phone rang unanswered. Questions sent to her WhatsApp were also not responded to.
