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Walter Nyamukondiwa-Mashonaland West Bureau Chief

Was it a well-crafted heist, couched in the sweet melody of investment and gain, with trappings of a get-rich-quick scheme, an attempt at rivalling infamous masters Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff or it was a well-meaning investment drive that went off the rails and with it US$100 000 in deposits?

Ponzi or pyramid scheme, the effect remains the same!

Several people in Chinhoyi are ruing the day they decided to invest or listen to whispers of a paying investment opportunity in a novel company that promised between 50 percent and double returns in a month or two.

So too is the schemer, Kunashe Madongorere (26) (pictured), popularly known as Bishop Morelife of Chinhoyi, ruing getting money from people following his arrest on 64 counts of fraud and counting as more people make reports to the police.

Like in all such cases, the culprits spend their last days, before being caught, jumping from pillar to post trying to appease hotly pursuing creditors.

From paying out paltry figures such as $200 in a bid to spread out the appeasement pill, to going underground when the heat became too much, the end is always the same.

Madongerere and his management sought to keep the sinking ship afloat as reflected in a letter they wrote to creditors after it became apparent that they could not pay out in time.

“Good morning, we are writing to inform you that we are unable to continue our payments as advised due to factors beyond our control. New dates will be communicated to all partners this Monday the 7th of October,” reads a letter undersigned by a Mr Katerere on behalf of Morelife management.

This followed an earlier letter written on September 28, promising that people would be paid from the available float as investments were generating slow returns.

“Every partner will receive their due amounts, but it will just take time,” reads part of the letter.

What raised the red flag for those who could read between the lines was a call for partners to reinvest their balances and engage new partners.

“However, partners can reinvest their balances for 28 October and 28 November payouts.

“It is in times like these where it’s crucial that we engage new partners for new projects with the pure intention to ease up the situation. The target still remains as Sustainable growth and profit maximisation,” reads the letter.

It is a pyramid!

The Morelife offices which housed the Madongorere’s ponzi scheme in Chinhoyi.

The illusory wealth creating scheme left wreckages of shattered dreams and broken hearts.

“I put in $2 000 with the promise that I would get $2 500 after a month, but the stories started changing. At one time I went to the offices, only to be harassed by bouncers,” said a victim.

“I wanted to raise money for next year school fees for my children but now I am in a mess. I have only received $200 so far. The first time I received my full dues.”

‘Great eagerness in the pursuit of wealth, pleasure, or honour, cannot exist without sin ‘, Dutch Christian humanist Desiderius Erasmus or Erasmus of Rotterdam once said.

The first group of people managed to deposit their money and get returns in the agreed periods and in typical human nature, whispers spread to close circles and more people jumped onto the bandwagon.

As the numbers and volume of deposits grew, so too did the Morelife empire, unbundling into several subsidiaries including butcheries and a recording and photo studio among others.

It wasn’t long before the flamboyance and opulence started showing.

From cars and fashion, things started changing for Bishop Morelife.

“People invested their money with Morelife and payment date was supposed to be end of August and till now nothing has come up. It hurts that the director, Bishop Morelife, has new cars yet people are not getting their money,” lamented one of the affected people.

“How can someone buy a Benz, Toyota Hiace, Honda Vezell and a fortuner all in a space of seven months, but he is unable to pay us our dues?”charged another victim.

Bishop Morelife has since appeared before a Chinhoyi Magistrate on 64 counts of fraud and was remanded to November 14 on $1000 bail.

Allegations against Madongorere are that from around May this year he received varying amounts from $200 to $10 000 purporting to be an investor.

He misrepresented several people that he could facilitate their financial investments.

The people signed agreement forms as assurance of the genuineness of the business.

Maimonides once said, “Do not consider it proof just because it is written in books, for a liar who will deceive with his tongue will not hesitate to do the same with his pen”.

He reportedly splurged the money on cars and other fancy things before he started giving excuses.

Through this act he prejudiced people of US$97 400.

Ponzi schemes are as old as mankind but people still fall to them.

The fallout when the scheme crumbled, affected Chinhoyi University of Technology students who had paid for a photoshoot on their graduation day.

Others could not get their wedding videos and pictures after some angry creditors confiscated hard drives and storage devices.

There is always that thing that tells people that they can just put in their money and get it out without anything happening to them even when the deal seems too good to be true.

A few win but the majority of people suffer losses.

Plato once said, “Whatever deceives men seems to produce a magical enchantment”.

Charles Ponzi and Bennie Madoff are regarded as the biggest Ponzi Scheme operators in the world, fleecing investors of billions of dollars between them.

Is Madongorere a protégé or disciple of the two?