Bamuza and his wife Yumna Sono during their wedding. Yumna, accused by parents in the Alexandra township in Johannesburg of fraud, has left those close to the alleged deal with a bitter taste in their mouths.
Sono's daughter-in-law was embroiled in an alleged scam, in which she made families from Alexandra, north of Joburg, fork out thousands of rands for a fictitious soccer tour to the UK.
A travel agent and organisers of the soccer tournament in the UK have also labelled the woman a cheat.
Yumna Sono, married to Sono's son Bamuza, had since been allegedly playing hide-and-seek with the families demanding refunds for the money they paid for the trip.
But the makoti poured cold water on the allegations, claiming she had used about R100000 of her personal money to fund the trip for the boys through her club, SSS Stars.
"These parents, who had only contributed a little sum of money while I lost a lot, want to tarnish my name because they are jealous. They know whose wife I am."
She claimed the trip was cancelled due to a shortage of accommodation in England.
Three of the affected parents, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their children's identity, spoke to Sunday World about their ordeal .
According to one of the mothers, the trip was cancelled on the day the boys and parents were supposed to leave.
She said Yumna invited mothers of about 20 boys to Manchester in the UK for The English Super Cup tournament that was supposed to take place from July 28 to 31.
"We did not even have boarding tickets or visas," the mother said.
"Yumna made us wait at the airport knowing well that she never paid for anything. She took our money."
The mother said her employer had been kind enough to sponsor the trip because she could not afford to pay for it.
"The chief operating officer of the company I work for paid R9000 for my son's dream to come true," she said.
"They waited for me to give them feedback about the trip, but I was so ashamed to tell them we were scammed. I eventually told them the truth when they were asking too many questions."
A second mother said she paid R21000, and was also at the airport on the morning of the supposed departure.
"It's strange because we were chatting through the WhatsApp group all morning. Yumna never mentioned we were not going. She even said she was on her way to the airport," said the mother, whose text messages were seen by Sunday World.
"As time for departure neared, we went to a counter to ask about our flight tickets. We were told our names were not there."
The mothers said when Yumna finally arrived at the airport in the afternoon, she told them the trip was cancelled because she had paid their flight tickets money into a wrong bank account.
But the alleged travel agent also claimed she was scammed by Yumna.
"I'm not a travel agent. I just work in the industry," the woman who identified herself only as Mbali said.
"She had asked me to help her with the travelling arrangements and I agreed.
"She told me she paid R178000 into my account. She even sent me an SMS that looked like a bank notification."
Mbali said the bank told her the SMS was not real.
According to the agent, Yumna later claimed she had gone to the bank, where she was told the money was not in her account.
She said Yumna then asked her to organise tickets so the parents could instead go to Cape Town on that day, as Manchester was now off the table.
"She asked me to call my people in the travel industry to organise tickets and a hotel stay," Mbali said.
"She told me she would sort out the bill the next day."
The agent said she managed to secure the Inn on the Square Hotel, for which the bill for two days was R17000 and the flight tickets were R70000.
She said the parents stayed there, but Yumna failed to honour her promise to foot the bill.
"The guy who helped me at the travel agency was fired due to Yumna's nonpayment. That woman conned us."
According to Team Tours Direct, a company that was organising the tournament in Manchester, Yumna promised to pay R300000 to secure space for her team.
"We never want to work with that woman again. She is a liar and her lies have crushed the dreams of young boys," the company's Samuel Brown said.
When Sunday World contacted Yumna's husband, Bamuza, last week, he promised all parents would be paid before the weekend. A week later, no refunds had been made.
Source: sundayworld
