The Police Made Sure I Was Absent by Arresting Me

This is the tale of an entrepreneur who has seen it all — court battles, Interpol red notices and grief.

- Ancillar Mangena

Call him unlucky or dodgy, whichever way you look at it, Zimbabwean financier and moneylender, Frank Buyanga, can fight.

He was trapped in his adopted country, South Africa, after Interpol issued him with a so-called ‘red notice’ in February 2012. This is issued to a person subject to an arrest warrant or one who is required to serve a sentence. He fought, using the law, to clear his name. He is now free to travel and do business at home.

At the root of it all was his money-lending business in Zimbabwe. Buyanga’s borrowers secured their loans with their homes. Every now and again, defaulters refused to give up their houses, leading to litigation and growing disgruntlement. The government called the loans a sham.

“The police made sure I was absent by arresting me. By me being absent, all these complainants were able to go and lie to the courts, police and judges. To some extent, they were successful because I wasn’t around to defend my position because I was busy fighting a criminal case. There was no element of criminality in any of my transactions,” says Buyanga.

His lawyer Nick Kaufman fought tooth and nail for the matter to be resolved.

“Frank is a colorful character. People don’t like success stories, especially from people who show their wealth,” said Kaufman, an international lawyer who has represented Muammar Gaddafi’s children and the Democratic Republic of Congo leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, against war crimes, when interviewed by FORBES AFRICA in 2012.

“It’s a serious defamation of character, when you have somebody who is presumed innocent then his photograph appears with the likes of Osama bin Laden and his henchmen, then that in itself has an effect on a legitimate businessman who is trying to conduct activities,” he said.