Ponzi scheme, owner sentenced

By Libuseng Nyaka

BETHLEHEM – Tshwaranang Stokvel, an investment scheme notoriously known for promising Eastern Free State investors a 50 percent interest on their investment in 30 days, has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to a fine of R1 million suspended for five years and R700 000 suspended for five years for money laundering.

Cabel Ntuli (41) was sentenced to an effective seven years’ imprisonment for fraud and money laundering. The sentencing was handed by the Bethlehem Commercial Crimes Court on Ntuli’s birthday, 22 February 2024.

Over 250 victims invested their hard-earned cash into Tshwaranang Stokvel between 2016 and 2019. A cumulative amount of about R8 million was lost.
Investors cried foul when there were no dividends and Ntuli was nowhere to be found. A Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team in Bethlehem traced Ntuli to Palm Ridge in Gauteng where he was arrested on September 17 2022.

Cabel Ntuli.

Free State Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Major General Mokgadi Bokaba has commended investigators for their commitment to solving a complex crime.

“Get-rich-quick schemes almost always have the same outcome. Their promises of returns on investment are usually too good to be true and must not be believed,” she advised.