Thembi Simelane

"I’m not sure if I would have done things differently. I should have looked into them and their registration but they were registered with the Financial Services Board, which I thought was sufficient to prove they are in the finance business. Like any other [due] diligence in getting a loan, I should’ve thought better than I did.”"

"It is difficult for a person who looks like me to get a loan in the South African economy. It’s difficult to get a loan and start a business as an African child without any form of assistance. There are so many brilliant dreams and ideas that black young people have but there’s no financing for them."

"I don’t know who they were involved with. The only way to get to know where Gundo has invested will be through a section 52 report, which comes every three months to update the council about the status of its investments, if there are any. That’s how I could’ve known about their investments. In terms of the names of the people, I don’t know and I’ve never met them."