• The suspect disappeared with R3,000 loan money, groceries and the gogo’s grant after pretending to help carry shopping bags.

• Police are searching for the suspect and believe she may have targeted other elderly victims in the same way.

Gogo Lerato Zulu, a 94-year-old woman from Lowley in the south of Johannesburg, is devastated after being robbed by a fellow pensioner who pretended to be kind.

She had just collected her pension grant in Lenasia and taken out a R3,000 loan to buy building material for her shack when she was targeted.

While shopping, an elderly woman approached her and started small talk. Zulu said the woman seemed friendly and even offered to help carry her heavy shopping bags to the taxi rank.

“She said she also lives in Lowley and would walk with me. I thought she was just being nice,” said Zulu.

Zulu, who uses a walking stick, said the bags were heavy and she was grateful for the help.

But while shopping for a prima stove, the woman warned her that the bag’s handle was broken and offered to keep it safe inside her own bag.

Zulu agreed. Then the woman told her she needed to quickly fetch medication from a nearby chemist.

“She never came back. That’s when I realised I had been robbed,” said Zulu.

The woman disappeared with her groceries, grant money and the R3,000 loan she was going to use to fix her leaking shack.

“I am heartbroken. I trusted her. She must be found and arrested. She is robbing poor pensioners.”

Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo confirmed the case.

He said police are searching for the elderly suspect and believe she may have used the same trick on others.

“We urge anyone with information or who was robbed in a similar way to report it to Lenasia Police Station,” he said.

Piictured above: Gogo Lerato Zulu is pleading with police to catch the woman who stole her pension and groceries.

Image source: Doreen Mokgolo