A disbarred lawyer who is accused of scamming prospective home buyers of their hard-earned money is now facing five more charges related to fraud and is said to be a person of interest in at least 20 other cases. Emoldah Manamela, a former conveyancing lawyer who was arrested last week appeared in the Pretoria magistrate’s court yesterday charged with defrauding eight victims who have since opened criminal cases against her. She is accused of defrauding her alleged victims as conveyance between as a conveyancer between 2019 and 2022.
I then paid her R192,000 which I had taken as a loan and I was expected to move in on October 15 in 2021. One of Manamela’s victims, a Limpopo teacher is settled with a R192 000 debt after he took a loan to buy a house he saw advertised near Tembisa Hospital. The man who asked not to be named said he has to continue paying R4,000 monthly for the next two years to settle the debt for a house he does not own after he was defrauded allegedly by Manamela.
Manamela is believed to have defrauded her clients millions rand and had been evading arrest until her police husband handed her over to authorities last week. Speaking to Sowetan the teacher said his wife who was working at Tembisa Hospital saw an advert for a house that was being sold in Soshanguve, Tshwane. I told them about my interest in the house and that I had been dealing with a conveyancer [Manamela].
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Scorpion advised with me to check with the LPC (Legal Practice Council) Manamela’s standing as a lawyer. LPC confirmed that Manamela was a legit lawyer,” he said. He said the property he was expected to buy was an RDP house valued at R180,000 and then Manamela told him to pay R25,000 extra for transfer of ownership.
I paid because I had gone to view the house twice before and nothing seem dodgy.” The man said seven days before he was due to move in he received an anonymous call informing that he had been scammed. “That is when I went to the house and found an old lady I had not seen before in my previous visits. She said she knew nothing about Manamela and the house being sold,” he said.
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