By Jonk Wa Mashamba
Editor-In-Chief
news@alexreporter.co.za
Local businessman, father of seven, Phidas Malima, contacted Alex Reporter and asked us to clarify the issue that involved his name.
This after a 27-year-old woman from Hamaanskraal asked our publication to help locate her father.
The woman, who requested to be masked, said she was looking for her father in the name of Phidas Malima, a local taxi owner from Alexandra township.
Malima, then contacted us, and said he was surprised to see his name in the press. He asked for the woman’s first, last name, phone numbers and place of residence, of which we provided.
He phoned her and taped the conversation. In the conversation we heard, Malima asked who her dad was and she said it was Walter Penya.
He went on to ask who her mother was, and she said Sophie. Malima, originally from Venda, asked why she told Alex Reporter that she was looking for her father called Malima. And the woman said that Walter was the one who notified her that her father was Malima.
Alex Reporter then proceeded with the interview until Phase one in Alexandra, where Malima’s cousins Jane Raseka and Lucky Ramushaka participated.
According to Malima, Sophie Ramushaka, who passed away in 2008, was his cousin. Raseka was equally disturbed about the allegation because he was related with the late.
Raseka argued that had the woman been the daughter of her cousin, the family would have known during the pregnancy or a few days after she was born.
The woman’s grandfather, Jackson Ramushasha was also called. He laughed at the allegation and said somebody was using the woman. Ramushasha said somebody was behind the claims because they wanted cash.
He also maintained that the woman, who is his granddaughter, was telling lies.
The family collectively said that they were concerned that the matter had to surface 27 years later, concluding that something wasn’t adding up.
When we called the woman, using Malima’s phone, it rang unanswered.
Malima had already told his 21-year-old daughter who lives on 10th Avenue about the allegation. We then visited the place and found her and her mother.
He said he loved his seven children and supported them, which he is always proud to do. He said the news shocked him and made him look like a reckless father, which is the opposite of who he is.
He also rubbished claims that Sophie and him dated. He said he had no chance of rejecting one child and supporting the rest.
He claims someone used her to get to him in order to make quick cash.
“The truth will emerge. This case isn’t over, and I’m prepared to take a hundred DNA tests. I’m not her father,” he maintained.
Alex Reporter realized that Malima and the woman hadn’t yet met and that they were speaking for the first time today. The woman also confirmed on the recording that she had not seen him nor spoken to him before.
Developing story!!!
NOTE: THE WOMAN HAD ASKED FOR HER NAME NOT TO BE MENTIONED, AND WE RESPECT THAT, BECAUSE WE ARE PROFESSIONAL!
Jonk Wa Mashamba also appeared on the picture.
