In December last year, DJ Zinhle, in her reality show The Unexpected, revealed that she had been a victim of cyber fraud. Now, it seems as though the alleged perpetrator had been arrested last year and was released on R5 000 bail.
Read more: Zinhle Reportedly Betrayed By Her Employee
To take you back a little bit, in one of her episodes, Zinhle was approached by an employee who had informed her of mysterious transactions from her bank account. The employee, then said to the cameras that Zinhle treats all of her employees like family, so was left hurt when the employee allegedly stole from her.
"She treats everyone like a family member, so I don't think she expects anything like this from anyone of us.
She noticed something off when there were two transactions made but were never approved by her.
Shortly after the episode aired, Sunday World reported that she had opened a case of fraud and theft at the Protea Glen police station.
The identity of the employee in question was never revealed but now several reports say the woman is Phumzile Diko. The accused was reportedly arrested last month, according to Sowetan Live. Her bail hearing was on Wednesday at the Protea magistrate's court on May 4 and it was granted at R5 000.
The 33-year-old does however deny stealing the R500 000 from Zinhle. In her affidavit, as quoted by Drum, Diko said, “About the charges against me, I was in charge of the affairs of the complainant which included dealing with her business account...At all the multiple times relevant to the charge sheet, I deny fraud complainants and all transactions that were performed by me were at the instructions of the complainant.”
Sowetan Live then added another quote from her affidavit and she said, “Monies were transferred by the complainant [DJ Zinhle] from her account to my account to perform the duties as per her instructions."
The self-employed DJ then adds, “I earn plus-minus R3,000 a week, depending on the number of events I have been invited to. Alternatively, the biggest amount I have ever earned was R3,000 in one week which was during the festive season, that is December of 2021. It is in the interest of justice that I be released on bail… my intentions are to plead not guilty.”
She said she would plead not guilty, adding that the state's case against her is weak, “The state's case is very weak against me. I have not yet had sight of the content of the docket. Furthermore, I have R3 000 should I be granted bail.”
Diko will be appearing in court again on June 21.
During last year's episode, it was suspected that the employee stole the funds in bits from July 2020, till July 2021. Totaling the amount to R500 000. She allegedly had access to Zinhle's personal details therefore was able to transfer the money out from her account. Zinhle did apparently ask the employee for the reasons behind this. She was then allegedly left with no choice but to lay charges.
Image credit: ANMG