The story of the hawker who took on Checkers, has a happy ending

Date: 01 December 2023 By: Bernard Chiguvare

On the odd occasion, stories do have a happy ending. This is the case with a Madombidzha-based hawker, Ms Langanani Julian Mamburu, who lost R4,000 when she tried to send money to her daughter by using Checkers’ money- transfer services.

This newspaper reported last week on Ms Mamburu’s desperate fight to try and get her money back, which started on 4 October when she rushed to the Checkers branch in Louis Trichardt to send money to her daughter in Thohoyandou. Her daughter is studying there and needed the money to pay for rent.

When her daughter went to the Shoprite branch in Thohoyandou that same day to collect the money, she was told that it had already been withdrawn in Brits in North West. When Ms Mamburu visited the Louis Trichardt branch the next day, she was told the same thing. She opened a case of fraud at the local police station but desperately needed the money, so she took out a loan just to be able to help her daughter.

Ms Mamburu kept on following up with the branch but had no joy. When she eventually got hold of the regional manager on 16 October, she was told that her money had only been withdrawn on 10 October, but in Tzaneen. She then approached the local office of Legal Aid SA, asking for their help.

Legal Aid SA assisted her to file a case at the Small Claims Court. Ms Mamburu served a letter of demand on Checkers, who did not respond. She then applied for a summons and a court date was set for 30 November.

The same day that the story appeared in this newspaper, it was also published on the online news site, GroundUp. The article drew the attention of a large number of readers and by the weekend, it had become the most-read story for the week on the GroundUp website.

On Thursday, Ms Mamburu’s daughter was contacted by a Cape Town representative of Checkers/Shoprite. They said that they had unsuccessfully tried to get hold of her mother. Ms Mamburu later confirmed that both the Louis Trichardt store and the Polokwane store had gotten hold of her and apologised for what had happened. She was told to visit the store on Saturday and collect the money she had lost.

“I could finally collect my money from the store, but I am disappointed with the way my case was handled at the Louis Trichardt store. They really wasted my time,” said Mamburu.

On Monday, she visited the magistrate’s court to tell them that she was withdrawing her case against Checkers.

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Bernard Chiguvare

Bernard Chiguvare is a Zimbabwean-born journalist. He writes mainly for the online publication, Groundup.

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