Three years later, the community of Muyexe remains as impoverished as ever after being fleeced by a consultant who drew a monthly salary of R95000 from a R1.39-million Old Mutual loan he had allegedly duped members of a women's cooperative into taking.

Raphael Manhire, director of Ralman Consulting Group, was reportedly brought in to assist the Macena Women's Garden Cooperative, in Muyexe, near Giyani, by Department of Rural Affairs and Land Reform deputy director-general Moshe Swartz in early 2010.

Made up of 36 women, the cooperative was one of several poverty alleviation projects Zuma launched when he visited the village in August 2009.

But, three years later, the women pioneering the project allege that Manhire took advantage of them and pocketed a big chunk of the Old Mutual's Masisizane Fund loan.

Manhire allegedly hoodwinked the project's executive committee into signing the R1.39-million loan application papers on the pretext that he was going to secure funding for them.

According to Maria Ngobeni, the cooperative's chairman, Manhire helped the women to open a cheque account into which a large portion of the loan was deposited. He insisted on being a co-signatory.

"He then started charging us R95000 a month [for six months] for getting us the funding while we received R1000 salary each for six months. He then borrowed R250000 from the account and wrote on the project's expenses records that this [loan] would be paid by the department [Rural Affairs and Land Reform] before disappearing.

"When he left, only R30800 was left in the account," Ngobeni said.

Manhire wrote on one of the project's expenses records that the money he paid himself was for "intellectual leadership".

"We are now stuck with the loan we're unable to repay and Old Mutual wants its money back. We have not paid a single cent and this is worrying us because we never wanted any loan in the first place.

"In fact, we only learned that we owed Old Mutual in December [2010] when their representative came here demanding that we start paying. We also learned [from Old Mutual] that the [17.5ha of] land we are tilling had been used as collateral for the loan and would be attached if we failed to pay," she said.

Masisizane Fund's chief financial officer, Fareed Bruintjies, confirmed that the project was granted a R1.39-million loan with the assistance of Ralman Consulting Group but would not disclose its current status, saying this was a private matter between the cooperative and Masisizane Fund.

Bruintjies, however, said nothing was put down as collateral because the Masisizane Fund had no collateral requirements and "we have taken no tangible collateral".

According to Bruintjies, the fund had a policy of not transferring approved loan finance to the applicant. The funding was paid direct to service providers.

He said the loan was "for the purchase of tomato crates, chemicals, seedlings and drip irrigation pipes".

Ngobeni said the cooperative did not receive the crates and had to pay R36000 for their storage to the supplier because they did not have transport to bring the crates from Johannesburg.

The project's secretary, Doris Baloyi, insisted that Manhire managed to get more than R1-million of the loan deposited into the cooperative's account.

"If the money went direct to the service providers, as Old Mutual says, where does the R820000 Manhire pocketed and the total of R216000 paid to us for six months come from because the project had no such money before the loan?" she asked.

Baloyi said that, shortly before Manhire disappeared, she saw in his car a letter he wrote to the manager of the First National Bank's Giyani branch asking to be removed as a signatory to the account.

In the project progress report to s Swartz, dated July 5 2010, Manhire stated that his two-year "management fees" for the project amounted to R2.1-million and he lobbied for R3.6-million as balance to cover "Macena and Household Gardens".

Attempts to reach Manhire for comment were unsuccessful. His cellphone remained on voicemail.

The number listed on the company's website is out of use.

According to Companies and Intellectual Property Commission records, Ralman Consulting Group, which is based in Sandton, is an external company registered in Harare, Zimbabwe, on July 27 1995 and incorporated in South Africa on May 2 1997.

Limpopo department of agriculture spokesman Kenny Mathivha said "preliminary findings are that he [Manhire] was contracted by the Department of Rural Development and Land Affairs to work on the projects.

"Our officials in Muyexe could never venture closer to the project. Everything that happens there is not of our doing."

Mathivha, however, said in 2004 that the provincial department gave Ralman a five-year contract to commercialise the commodities of subsistence farmers in Limpopo. But he did not give details of the project.

The Department of Rural Affairs and Land Reform denies any dealings with Manhire, saying he approached it after being referred to it by the Limpopo provincial department of agriculture with a proposal to buy back the primary produce for a processing plant it [the provincial department] funded.

According to the department's spokesman, Eddie Mohoebi, Manhire "introduced himself to the community of Muyexe with a proposal to buy back their primary produce.

The department has had no contractual relationship with Dr Manhire. The details and conditions of the said loan were never communicated to the department."

Mohoebi said Manhire did approach the department and branch head with the proposal to be hired to run the affairs of the project, "details of which were the subject of his application to Old Mutual to consider regarding their appropriateness. The terms of this loan were a matter to be handled between himself and the lending institution", he said.

The department says it was not aware of the money Manhire allegedly paid himself.

Mohoebi said: "We believe Old Mutual has been conducting their own investigation . since it is their money that is involved . We find it regrettable that monies could have been loaned on behalf of poor people. Rural people will always need proper guidance in their dealings with private service providers."

He said that the Department of Rural Affairs and Land Reform, and local leaders, should be extra vigilant in respect of irregular dealings.