Frank Buyanga Sadiqi is a businessman who has been named one of South Africa’s youngest millionaires. He has claimed that he has no idea how many cars or businesses he owns.
Frank Buyanga was born Tawanda Buyanga in the United Kingdom on September 14, 1979. According to reports, he changed his name in 2012 to conceal his identity after being placed on the International Police (Interpol) wanted list.
In 2009, he started calling himself Frank Buyanga Sadiq. Tawanda Buyanga began to refer to himself as Frank Buyanga, his father’s name, from then on.
Martha Gorogodo was his mother’s name.
Buyanga moved to South Africa in 2011 after being accused of defrauding more than 45 people in Zimbabwe through his company, Hamilton Property Holdings.
Buyanga resigned as Hamilton Property Holdings’ director the previous year, citing the fact that his company was now drawing the attention of the police and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
Buyanga’s stance fueled speculation that he was attempting to flee his alleged fraud charges. It was also revealed that Buyanga was charged in 2005 with conspiring to defraud an unidentified person in the United Kingdom.
He, on the other hand, refuted the story.
Buyanga lent money to people during Zimbabwe’s economic crisis, which saw the country’s economy collapse to unprecedented levels.
Those who went to Buyanga had to put up their properties as collateral. Buyanga allegedly sold the properties before the loan agreements expired.
His company was thus charged with purposefully lending large sums of money to Zimbabweans in order to gain possession of their properties, which were later disposed of.
The Attorney General, on the other hand, filed an application in the High Court seeking an injunction to prevent Buyanga’s company from selling 45 properties.
This was overturned.
It was later revealed that Buyanga’s problems resurfaced when the brother of a senior cabinet minister’s girlfriend who had borrowed money from Company committed suicide after discovering that he was unable to repay the money he had borrowed.
It was also reported that Buyanga was preparing to sue Nicholas Goche, who had borrowed US$70,000 from his company and refused to repay it.
Buyanga hired a top Israeli lawyer, Nick Kaufman, in 2013, who argued that his client does not have a case to answer in Zimbabwe, despite charges of allegedly defrauding people out of more than US$4 million.
He also stated that Buyanga had relocated to South Africa, a country that was providing him with the rights and liberties he was denied in Zimbabwe, dispelling the notion that he was fleeing prosecution.
While being investigated for crimes, it was reported in 2014 that he was negotiating with the owners of Cell Funeral Assurance Company to either buy or take a stake in the company.
Buyanga was however cleared by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) who argued that he was not involved in shady businesses as was previously reported.
He was also removed from the International Police list of wanted people.
In a legal battle with South African authorities involving a Rolls Royce vehicle, Buyanga managed to repossess the car after it had been impounded and auctioned without due process.
South African authorities impounded the car on the grounds that it had been reported stolen and that there were no proper documents for its importation.
The matter eventually came to finality after Buyanga manged to prove that he had followed stipulated procedures, a position that was also confirmed by the company from which the vehicle had been purchased.
Buyanga was one of the judges at the 2014 edition of the Miss Zimbabwe Pageant.[6] He also dines with the former Malawian president, Bakili Muluzi and Theodoro Obiang Nguema Bassongo of Equatorial Guinea. He stated that,
Muluzi is like a father figure. We have known each other for a while. My dad is late now and l need someone who can advise me on the way forward in life.
He also claims that Nicholas van Hoogstraden (who is believed to have been donating money to Robert Mugabe) is his mentor, friend and advisor.
Buyanga is said to be on a relentless mission of dishing out money in South Africa, something that he was reportedly denied to do in Zimbabwe. He donated R1 million to a youth development programme.
On 26 October 2020, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) seized gold coins weighing over 565 kilogrammes. Buyanga said the Kruger coins were worth R600 million or US$40 million at the time.
Apart from the coins, SARS also seized personal jewellery, watches, and cellphones when they raided the home of Buyanga’s girlfriend Melinda Busi Dube in Hyde Park .
In a court application, Buyanga said the coins are part of trading stock for his African Medallion Group (AMG). He alleged that SARS refused to meet him and his lawyers to discuss the seizure of the Kruger coins.
In April 2021, Buyanga put one of his mansions in Hyde Park, an exclusive neighbourhood in Johannesburg, up for sale for R18 million (US$1.23 million).
Buyanga did not live in the house which was being used by his girlfriend. Numerous reports argues that the decision to sell was a signal that Buyanga had hit hard times.
The property, at 64 1st Road in Hyde Park, was listed for sale on the Property24 website on 11 November 2020 just days after the SARS raid. At the time of the reports in April 2021 the mansion had not found a buyer yet.
Estate agents Knightsbridge Properties said the seven-bedroom house, situated on 4,000sqm of prime real estate, “epitomises the ultimate in luxurious living.”
The house boasts a patio which runs the length of the house, four automated garages, double staff quarters, a cottage, a swimming pool, a gazebo and six bathrooms – four of them en suite.
On 10 November 2022, Buyanga was arrested by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) South Africa at the Michael Angelo Hotel in Sandton on allegations of kidnapping and contempt of court charges.
He was locked up at Sun City Prison in South Africa.
South Africa Police Services (SAPS) spokesperson Colonel Athlenda Mathe, said:
Interpol South Africa through the assistance of the South African Police Service’s National Intervention Unit (NIU) have during an early morning raid arrested a 43- year-old businessman at an upmarket hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. Zimbabwean Businessman Frank Buyanga Sadiqi is wanted by the Zimbabwean authorities for kidnapping, robbery and three counts of contempt of court.
Cancellation of Arrest Warrant
On 14 November 2022, Harare magistrate Judith Taruvinga cancelled the warrant of arrest that had been issued against Buyanga. She admitted that she issued it erroneously.
State Appeals Cancellation of Arrest Warrant
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) applied to the High Court challenging the cancellation of a warrant of arrest for Buyanga by Harare provincial magistrate, Judith Taruvinga.
Prosecutor-General Nelson Mutsonziwa was seeking to have the High Court set aside Taruvinga’s judgment, arguing that the warrant was cancelled without following due process.
The matter was set to be heard on 21 November 2022 at the High Court before Justice Pisirayi Kwenda.
There were already two other warrants of arrest against Buyanga — one issued by High Court judge Justice David Mangota and the other by Justice Jacob Manzunzu.
In November 2022, the High Court set aside the cancellation of a warrant of arrest for South Africa-based Zimbabwean businessman Frank Buyanga Sadiqi.
This result came after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of Zimbabwe applied for a review of Harare magistrate Judith Taruvinga’s ruling that cancelled the warrant of arrest earlier in November.
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