Tshitshi Bopela had grand plans of making it big. She wanted to be an actress and made YouTube videos in 2013 in which she pretended to be a reporter for various media outlets such as eTV and CNBC.
Then she progressed to big business, where she allegedly claimed to be former deputy president Baleka Mbete’s niece and lured potential “investors” with promises of lucrative mining deals.
Some of her alleged victims say they were sent videos of her on a mining site, which she claimed she had the rights to.
But this week Bopela was arrested for using forged paperwork to apply for R850,000 in financing.
Gauteng police spokesperson Capt Tintswalo Sibeko confirmed the arrest. Bopela, 42, who calls herself Gigi, appeared in the Kempton Park magistrate’s court on Wednesday charged with fraud. She is due to appear in court again on December 6 for a bail application.
Mbete told the Sunday Times that Bopela was the daughter of “a struggle hero and a dear friend”, Thula Bopela.
“Thula died a few years ago. As an elder, a leader and a parent myself I can only say the law must take its course. I hope Gigi will learn lessons in the cells and hopefully snap out of this haze she’s been living in,” said Mbete.
Thula had been proud of his daughter, she said. “During the struggle he went into the bush and was later caught and sent to death row. When he was released, we often talked about the horrors he experienced in the bush and in prison. He was in a lot of pain. She was his eldest. It was always just ‘Gigi, Gigi, Gigi,’ when he spoke about life. Thula had two other children. They must be so embarrassed by the situation.”
Private investigator Conrad Gouws, who is contracted by a Johannesburg short-term financing company to oversee debt collections, is the complainant in the matter that led to Bopela’s arrest at her office in Fourways.
“Gigi claimed to own a silicon mine. She said she had a massive order coming in from abroad and needed the money to complete the order,” Gouws said.
“She applied and received R850,000 at the start of November. With interest this amounts to R1.4m she owes the company. “The due date for the money was only on Friday [November 28], but when Gigi asked for more money a week after receiving the R850,000 we started to smell a rat.”
He said she had supplied all kinds of paperwork that, on investigation, had turned out to be fake.
“We could see that payments she was claiming to be incoming had never been made. When we checked her documents with the alleged originators, all of it turned out to be forgeries.”
Several other people who alleged they were Bopela’s victims told the Sunday Times she had claimed to be Mbete’s niece, while others said she had constantly referred to “a minister who had her back”.
But Gouws claims this is nonsense.
“I asked people close to the Mbete family if they knew her and they said the family had been asked before about Gigi and that they didn’t know her.”
Another alleged victim, a doctor in Johannesburg, asked not to be named.
“Gigi was a patient of mine for five years. She became more than just a patient, I started seeing her as a friend. Then she came to me with a business proposal. She told me she was part of a consortium that owned the rights to a silicon mine under a BEE deal.
“She was totally believable and sent me all kinds of paperwork. My lawyers and my accountants looked at everything she sent and even they did not pick up anything strange,” said the doctor.
“Initially Gigi needed R600,000. She sent me constant updates on where the transaction was. Videos of her at the mine, videos of blasting taking place. I believed her, but then the repayments never came.”
The doctor hasn’t opened a police case yet.
“I had a meeting with her and my lawyer. Gigi started crying and said the minister failed her and that caused the repayment issues. She asked that we give her some time and said, ‘If I get arrested there is no way for me to repay you’. I gave her the chance but no money materialised. In total Gigi stole R2.2m from me.”
A chartered accountant from Pretoria who also asked not to be named met Bopela in 2018.
“She is a total con artist. She came to me with a mountain of paperwork to back up her claims of owning a silicon mine and needing money for a huge shipment ordered from abroad. She needed R1.7m and in return I would get back R3.2m in a matter of weeks,” said the accountant.
“Literally everything she sent me was fake. It was all forgeries.”
Bopela’s lawyer, Werner Janse van Rensburg, confirmed her arrest but declined to comment on the claims against her.
“I can confirm that my client was arrested, but I haven’t consulted with her yet, so I can’t comment any further,” he said.
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