Frank Buyanga Biography: Background, Fraud Cases, SARS Battle, Custody Wars, Philanthropy
Frank Buyanga Sadiqi is a successful businessman who has been rated as one of the youngest millionaires in South Africa. He has made his fortune through various business ventures, but the exact number of his cars and businesses is unknown to the public.
Frank Buyanga Biography [Image: Hot263]
Frank Buyanga Background
Frank Buyanga was born Tawanda Buyanga on September 14, 1979, in the United Kingdom. In 2012, he reportedly changed his name to Frank Buyanga Sadiq to conceal his identity after being listed on the International Police’s (Interpol) list of wanted people. He began calling himself Frank Buyanga in 2009, which is his father’s name, as he apparently sought to distance himself from his past identity. His mother’s name is Martha Gorogodo.
Frank Buyanga Fraud Cases
Buyanga moved to South Africa in 2011 after allegedly defrauding more than 45 people in Zimbabwe through his company, Hamilton Property Holdings. In 2010, Buyanga stepped down as the director of Hamilton Property Holdings because the company was attracting the attention of the police and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ). However, his resignation was seen by many as an attempt to flee from his purported fraud charges. It was also reported that Buyanga was charged with conspiring to defraud an unidentified person in the UK in 2005, although he denied this allegation.
During the 2008 period of turmoil in Zimbabwe, Buyanga lent money to people who were obliged to give in their properties as collateral. However, he is said to have sold the properties before the loan agreements had expired. His company was thus charged for deliberately lending large sums of money to Zimbabweans as a way of getting hold of their properties, which were earmarked to be disposed of afterwards. The Attorney General filed an application in the High Court seeking to interdict Buyanga’s company from selling 45 properties, but this was overridden.
Buyanga’s troubles resurfaced when the brother of a senior cabinet minister’s girlfriend, who had borrowed money from Hamilton Holdings Property, committed suicide after he discovered that he was not able to pay back the money he had borrowed, of which he had pledged his sister’s house as collateral. It was also reported that Buyanga was about to sue Nicholas Goche, who had borrowed US$70,000 from his company and was unwilling to pay back.
In 2013, Buyanga hired a top Israeli lawyer, Nick Kaufman, who argued that his client didn’t have a case to answer in Zimbabwe despite charges of allegedly swindling people of more than US$4 million. He also stated that Buyanga had relocated to South Africa, a country which was offering him the rights and liberties he was denied in Zimbabwe, dispelling the notion that he was running away from being prosecuted. In October 2014, while he was still being investigated for his crimes, Buyanga was negotiating with the owners of Cell Funeral Assurance Company to either have a stake or to buy the company.
Frank Buyanga Biography [Image: Nehanda Radio]
Cleared Of All Charges
Buyanga was later cleared by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), who argued that he was not involved in shady businesses as was previously reported. He was also removed from the International Police list of wanted people.
Battle With SARS
Frank Buyanga was involved in a legal battle with South African authorities involving a Rolls Royce vehicle. He managed to repossess the car after it had been impounded and auctioned without due process. South African authorities impounded the car on the grounds that it had been reported stolen and that there were no proper documents for its importation. The matter eventually came to finality after Buyanga managed to prove that he had followed stipulated procedures, a position that was also confirmed by the company from which the vehicle had been purchased.
Custody Battle With Ex
Frank Buyanga is involved in a custody battle with his ex-girlfriend Chantelle Muteswa over their son. He was also accused of having an affair with Marry Chiwenga, the estranged wife of Zimbabwe’s vice president Constantino Chiwenga, who is facing charges of attempted murder and money laundering. However, Buyanga denied any relationship with Marry and said he was being targeted by powerful people who wanted to tarnish his reputation.
He was arrested in November 2022 by Interpol after Zimbabwean authorities accused him of kidnapping his son, who was born out of wedlock with his ex-girlfriend Chantelle Muteswa. He denied the allegations and claimed that he was being persecuted by powerful people who wanted to sabotage his business and reputation.
Philanthropic Work
Frank Buyanga Biography [Image: The Zimbabwe Mail]
Frank Buyanga is involved in philanthropic work through his Hamilton Foundation, which he formed in 2012. The foundation aims to help the poor and disadvantaged people in Africa, especially in Zimbabwe. Some of the projects that the foundation has supported include donating food hampers, blankets, and sanitary pads to vulnerable communities, sponsoring school fees and uniforms for orphaned children, providing boreholes and water tanks to rural areas, and assisting churches and religious organisations.
The foundation also claims to have raised over GBP500,000 for various mission funds when Buyanga was a deacon at Forward in Faith Ministries International in the UK.
