Phone shipping ‘entrepreneur’ in a world of trouble

A former Eastern Cape pool table champion and Rhodes University student appears to have gone for the wrong pockets when he convinced a group of women he could get them good deals on cellphones in China, where he is now studying.

Lwando Mtwa is now in the crosshairs of  Kamva Tede, Mnombi Katsi, Siphumze Ngalo, Nasiphi Mpiyakhe and Asiphe Nontswabu, although he has promised to pay them back.

The women say that Mtwa, a student at Hebei University in China but from Mbizana in the Eastern Cape, never delivered their iPhones, which are much cheaper in China.   

Tede told Dispatch she contacted Mtwa through a mutual friend and paid him R53,250 for 29 phones. However, she has yet to see even one of the devices she ordered.

After months of trying to persuade him to deliver the phones or reimburse her the money, she opened a case at the Alice police station.

Police had not responded to a media inquiry to confirm the case at the time of writing.

Tede said in August, she asked Mtwa for a shipping address as she wanted to ship the phones herself. It had become clear to her that Mtwa was “dragging his feet”.

But when she called the shipping company she was told no such order had been received.

Tede said she confronted Mtwa and he paid back R31,250, but he had not yet paid back the full amount.

Tede then spoke to Mtwa's mother, who paid back an amount of R11,000, which she deposited to the shipping company and the phones were delivered.

To her shock, however, the phones were not the model  she had ordered.

Tede said Mtwa still owes her R10,250.

“He is a wolf in sheep's clothing. He must be punished and face the consequences. I need my money back,” Tede said.

Katsi had a similar experience.

She paid Mtwa R6,500 to get her a phone in China.

“He betrayed my trust. I try to contact him but he keeps telling me stories. He does not respond to my messages. He needs to be exposed for who he is,”   Katsi said.

Ngalo, Mpiyakhe and Nontswabu all said they went to file a complaint at the Alice police station but they were only asked by police why they had not wanted to buy phones locally.

“I came back with a heavy heart because the police were supposed to help us open a case, not to question us,” said Sontswabu.

Mtwa  admitted that he  had done business with the women. He said he was in the process of paying them back.

He said he had used the R10,250 wanted by Tede “for my own personal problems”. 

“The other six people sent their money between March and February and I ordered their phones, but when Covid-19 came international couriers were banned. When the ban was lifted I made some follow-ups. They are not the only ones I owe money and phones to — even my neighbour is still waiting,” he said.

Mtwa said most of the orders were intercepted by China's customs authorities because they were suspected of being counterfeit.

“I received a message from China that the phones were seized and were kept in a government facility and subsequently they were destroyed.

He said he had been taken to court  and if he lost he would have to repay the complainants in instalments.

He said there were a total of eight complainants, and so far he had settled with two of them.

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