Allan Ledwaba lost R500,000 in an alleged fraudulent forex trading deal with self-proclaimed millionaire Sandile Shezi. Shezi, who claims to be SA’s youngest millionaire, made headlines last week after he handed himself over to Sandton police following the issuing of the warrant of his arrest for allegedly defrauding Ledwaba in 2017. Shezi appeared at the Alexandra magistrate’s court on Thursday and was granted R5,000 bail.

In a heartfelt interview with Sowetan on Friday, Ledwaba said he was still licking his wounds because of a bad financial investment he made with Shezi which threatened the livelihood of his family and caused a break in his relations with his father. “Sandile [Shezi] damaged my life. I don’t care whether he gets a jail term or not, I just want my money because my family’s future depends on it,” said Ledwaba. He said he had to move out of his R10,000 a month apartment to rent a backyard room he rented for R300 in Hammanskraal. “I acted like everything was okay for a couple of days before my dad sat me down and asked me to show him bank statements regarding the loan he had given me. I told him what had happened with Shezi and he lost his mind.

He kicked me out of the house and told me to only come back when I have his money. “I lost touch with my family. I was embarrassed and humiliated. In order to make a living, I started selling snacks from my room to support myself and my three-year-old son who was living with his mother in Johannesburg. She had to go and live with her family too. I also sold the business car,” said Ledwaba. It would take about eight months for Ledwaba and his father to start talking again and he is now financing Ledwaba’s legal battle with Shezi. Ledwaba said he met Shezi in 2016 after graduating in agriculture studies from the University of Mpumalanga and had ambitions of starting a commercial farm for his family.

He was 23 years old and unemployed when he came to Johannesburg from Mpumalanga. His father had loaned him R500,000 to purchase land to start the farm.  “I didn’t know that much about forex trading but I was curious about it,” he said. He then attended one of Shezi’s seminars in Sandton and paid R10,000 to have him as his lifetime mentor. The two soon became friends and in 2017 Ledwaba claimed that Shezi introduced him to his VIP trading account in which clients would invest a minimum of R100,000 and Shezi would trade on their behalf. “He wouldn’t mind showing his clients that that particular account had R86m in it.

I was convinced to invest all my money all at once because I had seen how much he had. He also showed me his trading licence, I knew all his offices around the country and their head office in KZN and I had become acquainted with his wife and father. In my head, it was a legitimate business and I could trace him should anything happen,” said Ledwaba, who also attended Shezi’s wedding in 2017. Their agreement was that Ledwaba would get dividends annually with 100% returns in the first year which would then double annually thereafter. “My main aim was to use my investment to make more money to buy a farm,” said Ledwaba. However, Shezi gave him the run-around a year later when he started asking for his payout. After months of failed attempts to get his dividends, Ledwaba had to vacate his apartment and eventually moved to his parents’ house in Hammanskraal.