DPP’s Ngalande speaks out: Denies ‘undressing’ Kondi Msungama’s wife, wants his MK3.7 mil back

Former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) national director for youth and councillor for Chigumula Ward in Blantyre, Lewis Ngalande, has rejected accusations that he beat up and ‘undressed’ Olive Msungama, wife to businessman Kondi Msungama, arguing it is  “a pathetic attempt by the Msungamas to earn cheap public sympathy”.

In an interview with Nyasa Times on Thursday, Ngalande accused the Msungamas of being stingy with the truth using” pre-meditated tricks.”

He claimed Msungama falsely obtained a total of MK3.7 million from him ostensibly to help him obtain customs duty clearance for two vehicles that he had imported from South Africa and Japan.

“It all started  sometime in February this year. When Msungama saw me driving a Toyota Fortuner with foreign registration numbers, he offered to help me clear the vehicle with MRA. It’s normal that people will engage agents and I had no problems with that and gave him MK2.5 million that he had demanded.

“Days turned into weeks and weeks into months without any progress. When I asked him what the matter was, he gave various excuses and I continued to wait,” Ngalande explained, adding that two months later, in April, he imported another vehicle, a Toyota Noah, from Japan and Msungama also insisted he would do the clearance on his behalf.

“He offered to clear the Toyota Noah at a fee of MK1.2 million, even before the papers for the Toyota Fortuner were out. When I raised the required MK1.2 million, Msungama was outside the country and he instructed me to give the money to his wife and that the papers for the two vehicles would be ready as soon as he returned.

“I gave his wife MK1.2 million.  Since that time, Kondi has been playing hide-and-seek with me, behaving as if there has never been any business between us,” he said.

Ngalande claimed that their relationship has deteriorated to the point that at one point, Msungama insulted and called him all sorts of bad names “just for demanding my money back”.

“I had no choice but to report the matter to police. When the police summoned us, we entered into a written agreement, dated May 5, 2019, that Kondi would pay back the MK3.7 million that he had fraudulently obtained from me within 30 days. He has not paid me a penny up to now.

“I decided to report the matter to Police because I realized Kondi simply wanted to fleece me out of my hard-earned cash, and that the ‘vehicle clearing agency’ thing was all about a scheme to steal.  So when I met Olive, his wife, in Limbe, I told her I wanted my money, after all, it was her who came to collect the second payment, meant to clear the Toyota Noah,” Ngalande emphasized.

Quizzed on reports that he assaulted her, pushed the woman down undressed, Ngalande said that is not true.

“I did not beat her up. I only attempted to confiscate the car keys from her. The police later intervened and we went to Limbe Police Station to discuss the matter. It is now in the hands of the police.

“I confronted her because she is aware of the issue and most probably part of the scheme. I have proof of payment that I made directly to her through an EcoBank cheque number 000107 dated 26 May 2017. What the Msungamas are doing is to falsify the whole issue as a decoy to deflect public attention away from the crux of the matter, which is that they used tricks in order to obtain money from me,” he said.

Jessie Nyirongo, in-charge at Police Anti Motor Vehicle Theft Department at Southern Region Police Headquarters, confirmed they handled this matter and that Msungama had accepted to pay back Ngalande’s money.

 

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