The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
ZIMBABWE professional hunter and guide Samuel Nkomo made quite an impression when he embarked on an epic journey to walk 500 kilometres to raise awareness about the importance of conserving wildlife, particularly the rhino in 2014.
So overwhelming was his campaign that it garnered world support and even managed to land him a deal to walk in South Africa.
Sam was literally walking the talk to save the rhino, which is being driven into extinction due to rampant poaching. In the early 2000s, Sam saved a group of tourists from a rampaging herd of elephants in South Africa, with nothing but a stick as a weapon.
His nobility was of course rewarded with a medal of honour, which he received from former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
Having walked from the rocky Matopos to the majestic Victoria Falls, Sam created a movement in wild life conservancy, a movement which saw him being idolised as an emperor in the fight to conserve wild life.
This year he landed a deal with South African based wildlife organisation Southern African Fight for Rhino (SAFFR) to walk in that country, as part of his campaign to save the rhino.
He was scheduled to walk 600 kilometres in a walk that was dubbed — The African Unity Walk for Rhino. However, in the last two weeks Sam seems to have lost the plot and is now living in a shadow of his former self. Sam will not be walking in South Africa, as it turns out that he allegedly defrauded the director of SAFFR, Alexia Abnett Trombas of money and intellectual material, Sunday Life can exclusively reveal.
Sam was due to walk alongside a South African woman, Zelma Vermaak. Sam has also been accused of illegally entering into South Africa, more than a fortnight ago.
In a statement, SAFFR director Trombas said she stumbled upon Sam’s open Facebook account, where she discovered the supposed communication between Zelma and Sam. Trombas also accused Sam of using the organisation’s name to seek funds for the campaign, which he converted to his own use.
“It is with deep, deep sadness that I have to tell everyone the terrible news. Sam Nkomo and Zelma Vermaak will not be walking for SAFFR. I’m afraid that I stumbled upon his open FB timeline, which he left open whilst I took him to town to take the train back to Jhb. It seems that the two of them have been lying to us all from the beginning. Sam Nkomo used my kindness and hospitality just to get here to SA and also to raise awareness so that he can sell himself to others. The messages that I have in my possession are unbelievably bad. It seems that while I have sacrificed so much for our initiative to head up to CITES, and drove all the route mapping and working 18 hours a day for weeks and with ill health I have proof that he had no intention of doing the walk for SAFFR.
“He has been misleading not only me but also many, many of our members. Asking for money and garnishing donations on SAFFR press releases. I have had him shouting terrible drunken abuse over the phone at me, calling me a racist and actually lying to Zelma all the while. I am so very sorry about this entire terrible occurrence. Things went south when I asked him for a certified copy of his passport so as to draw up a contract. He said he left it at his sister’s house in Hillbrow! He could have got me arrested on the mapping route by not having his papers in order! It has been a very heartbreaking and embarrassing lesson learnt the hard and expensive way,” said Trombas in an interview with Sunday Life.
She said Sam was left behind at the Beitbridge border post, when he was traveling to South Africa to carry out the route mapping for the walk.
“He was left behind at Beitbridge due apparently, as the driver of INTERCAPE said, because his paperwork was not in order, this after taking money off good people in Bulawayo to get to Harare to sort his paperwork out! I had to send more money and as I have self-funded this all on my own it created a big dent in my budget for the route mapping. He was also supposed to get all the information from the SA embassy that is required for him to be able to walk here in SA. This was not done. He then expected me to finance him to the tune of R3 500. I have since discovered that he had been playing us all along. He and Zelma. I will be consulting with my attorneys with regard to recovering my costs from him. I’m afraid that I have been seriously conned,” said Trombas.
She also said she had since launched a campaign on social media to create awareness of the tact Sam supposedly uses to get funds from people through SAFFR.
“He has also accused me of being a racist. This is a call for the African people to unite in this fight. It’s not for me. I am very ill and probably won’t live to a ripe old age. I want us to keep fighting to get our rhino upgraded. This time I won’t be fooled by people who really don’t care although they say they do, about our rhino. Sam Nkomo has been exposed as a fraud. Once he was exposed as a fraud, he then used the race card on me. Typical you would say? The world is full of scammers and unfortunately, I am not as street wise as I thought. There will be many who would just love to see me and my initiative not work,” said Trombas.
She revealed that she had since filed a complaint with the South African police and were working towards extracting him from Zimbabwe to answer the charges.
“Case number for Sam Nkomo Fraud 51/1/2016, I would like to be able to charge him in Zimbabwe. He put my life in danger by not having the legal travel documents and also for defamation,” she said.
Trombas said she was surprised at how Sam also failed to produce his passport.
“The fact that he was unable to present me with an ID or a passport, to have it certified by the police, in order to do a contract, according to the law, shows me more and more that he was in fact trying to get the publicity, to garner donations behind the NPCs back. He has taken R4 390 away from the rhino. It is those people who now must be warned that Samuel Nkomo must not get ANY DONATIONS USING SAFFR! NO MATTER WHAT HE SAYS, HE IS NOT WALKING FOR SAFFR,” she said.
Contacted for comment Sam said he experienced problems at the border and that he and Trombas had issues.
“I had a problem at the border and was left behind. I did manage to get to South Africa. Alexia and I have issues, which we are sorting out. There is not a single day that I have misrepresented that organisation to get funds, which I am being accused of converting to my own use. The only money I asked for was for my training in Kariba. I needed money for accommodation and traveling expenses. That’s all I can say for now,” he said.
