I mean really, who in this era still falls prey to fraudsters masquerading as traditional doctors?
Who in their stable mind still believes a human-being can end their social and economic problems so easily when even the revered God seems to struggle when it comes to providing for all of us.
Fools are those people who do foolish things. The English dictionary teaches me that a foolish action is stupid and shows that someone is not thinking sensibly and lacks good judgement. Label me cruel or insensitive. I have a succinct description for these people who fall victim to these fraudulent transactions: They are stupid.
I know that this article will be read by some people who have fallen victim to fraudsters or whose family members or friends have been swindled by these fake traditional doctors. I know I’m expected to sympathize and empathize with them.
Well, I have no time to feel sorry for people with self-inflicted misery. People have the tendency to invite sorrow in their life and expect society to cry with them. As for me, I have no tears to waste. I laugh my lungs out every time I hear of someone who was so stupid as to give out money to fraudsters.
Look, I know everyone, including me, can be swindled out of their money but truly speaking, you must be a thoroughbred idiot to fall for some of these scams. The Botswana Police has for a long time been vigorously sensitizing people about these fake traditional doctors.
Richard Harriman of Consumer Watchdog writes columns every week in prominent and widely read newspapers warning people against these fraudsters. What shocks me is, most if not all these people who get cheated out of their money are people who can read and write. They all have access to Btv and newspapers.
You see, there is only one way to fall into the hands of these bogus traditional healers: entertaining them. Once you agree to listen to their hogwash, you will get tempted to buy into their promises.
If you don’t find their stories irritable then you will find them irresistible. I used to receive annoying emails from people that are not known to me claiming that I have won some lottery. Imagine I never participate in local lottery competitions and some fool claiming to be in England has the guts to try and crook me into parting with my money.
At first I used to just delete the messages but as they persistently came in I responded. My response was not polite. I cannot even share with you what I wrote in my response because like I mentioned, I was very impolite and it was deliberate. What I can tell you though is, ever since I responded to those bogus emails, I have never received any further communication from the fraudsters. There is an explanation to why Botswana has become a haven for these mostly foreign fake traditional healers.
Batswana believe a lot in everything that is foreign. We believe in foreign pastors. We believe in foreign traditional doctors. Our women even believe foreign men are better lovers when the truth is, in most cases these foreign men fake their love for our sisters so they can reap on the benefits that come with staying or marrying a Motswana woman.
On August 4, 2012 a local weekly carried a story in which a Ugandan man confesses to having raked in lots of money from Batswana by claiming to be a traditional healer. He is reported as having said while in Uganda a friend of his told him that it was easy and quick to make money in Botswana.
He was told that he could become a millionaire in a day. He brags that his mission has been accomplished and he is now heading back to Uganda to start a legitimate business with the money he fraudulently obtained here.
I will never understand Batswana. Ok, I mean some of Batswana because clearly we have amongst us people who can be told by a foreigner to feast on their faeces and they would agree for as long as they are promised heaven on earth.
I’m struggling to understand what drives someone to be so naive as to believe money can be multiplied by someone with a face that screams ‘BROKE!’. I mean, why would you believe that someone who doesn’t even look like they know the inside of a bank can make you smile all the way to the bank?┬á
How does a woman who has given birth to six children believe a traditional doctor can reverse everything and make you a virgin all over again?
How moronic can one be to believe that they can get salary increment at work even when government declares there won’t be any?
I’m startled to learn there are people who believe traditional doctors have the power to make them pass examinations, win court cases, win elections, bear children, bring back ex-lovers, get them white lovers, heal HIV/AIDS and make them win lotteries.
I admit we have always had traditional healers and pastors in our society and it baffles me why people fail to distinguish between real and fake healers and pastors even as the distinction is as clear as night and day or black and white.
Will I be wrong to submit that our judgement is clouded by greed? Have we become so lazy to work for our gains that we fall for every trick that promises short cuts to success? Are we that poor to despairingly give away the little we have hoping to better the situation we currently find ourselves in?
The same local weekly paper reports on how a man lost cash amounting to P65,000 and a Gem iPhone Diamond cellphone valued at P7000 to fraudsters who had told him that his ancestors will increase his salary. Another man is reported to have parted with P17, 000 after the fraudsters told him that they were going to buy cows with the money and thereafter the money will be given back to him to buy a farm. One man gave away cash amounting to P4,400 and Plasma TV valued at P9,000, a Hifi music system valued at P5,000 and a Nike bag valued at P200. He was promised that in the end he will be P550, 000 richer.
Those are just some of the many cases reported in the same newspaper article which also reports of women who give free sex to conmen for virginity confirmation. I had to pinch myself while reading the article because as far as I’m concerned such stories should only happen in dreamland and not in the real world.
The article in question is headlined with a question: ‘Brave or foolish?’
My answer is, those conmen are brave and their victims are foolish.
