An Ekurhuleni woman has been left with debt and monthly loan repayments after allegedly being defrauded of R180,000 by a woman employed at a Benoni law firm.
She paid for a house in Langaville, Brakpan, advertised on Facebook in May 2024, and even bought materials to start renovations.
However, she later found out the home was not for sale.
The woman has been demanding her money back from Lerato Ramanyimi, who facilitated the sale of the property.
“I had to take out a R150,000 loan and use R30,000 from my credit card. I am left with monthly repayments and no house to my name,” the woman said.
She started repaying the loan in July 2024.
“I am not done. It has been hard and I recently got into debt counselling,” she added.
She said she pays R4,435 for the R150,000 loan and R2,500 for the credit card debt.
She has 63 months in repayments to settle the debt.
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She said she was feeling ill. “I am not fine at all and when I was opening a case I was told that we might not even get the money from this person.”
Ramanyimi, who worked for Kgope (C) Attorneys, and her husband Nicolus have since been arrested and are expected to appear in court today for bail applications.
The allegations follow Sowetan’s report exposing a Johannesburg woman as an unregistered lawyer with five complaints lodged against her with the Property Practitioners’ Regulatory Authority for defrauding homebuyers.
According to the Legal Practice Council (LPC), Kgope Attorneys have four cases pending, including alleged failure to attend to estate matters and financial investigations.
“The last FFC [fidelity fund certification] issued to CS Kgope was in January 2025, for the 2025 financial and/or assessment year,” LPC spokesperson Kabelo Letebele said.
“The attorney remains responsible for the work being done at his office by his staff. Any employee of a law firm is subject to the instructions of the director of the firm.
Letebele said that in the event of misconduct committed by a staff member, the director is aware of the steps to take and report the misconduct to the relevant authorities.
“The attorney remains accountable for all monies paid to his firm and must account to clients.”
Sowetan understands Ramanyimi would use Kgope Attorneys letterheads but not the firm’s account details.
The director of the firm, Christopher Sello Kgope, said Ramanyimi was no longer employed by him and that the matter was before the court.
“People believed she was an attorney within my practice.
”What happened dented me because there was a time when there was traffic in the office - coming in and out of the boardroom - but I was not making money.”
After receiving complaints, he said he probed why work was not done if clients said they had paid. But he could not find their files.
He said the law society investigated his company and even called him in for a hearing. And that is when, he said, he knew what Ramanyimi was doing in his company.
Kgope gave the police a statement last week.
Another alleged victim, Mpho Kanye, said she used her pension money after she got laid off to pay for a house in Tokyo Gardens, Tsakane.
She said she met agents who took her to Ramanyimi, who at the time was at PH Executors, where she facilitated the purchase documents.
She was asked to pay R100,000 immediately and another R12,500 for transfer costs.
When she tried to move into the house, she was told the owner needed to “do something for the ancestors” and she had to wait.
“I went to Benoni to check on her [Ramanyimi], and when I got there, I was told she was no longer at the office and that she left in March, the same month I made the payment.”
She went to check on the house and was told it was not for sale.
She and the owner opened a case with the police.
PH Executors owner Phineus Tsotetsi said Ramanyimi had asked to use his facilities to sign an offer to purchase.
“At the time, she worked for Kgope Attorneys and told me about her struggles. She said she was not getting a salary every month and that she just wanted to use my facilities.”
He said he was shocked when he received a payment of R12,500 and when he asked about it, she said she had used his trust account.
Tsotetsi said he has since repaid some of the cash after allegations emerged against Ramanyimi.
Sowetan
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