The quiet town of Nxuba (formerly Cradock) has seen a surge in cases related to fraudulent funeral policy claims, and on Friday, the town’s magistrates’ court denied a woman bail for her alleged involvement in more than 30 such claims. (Photo: Nieu-Bethesda.com) 
“No Christmas for Christmas.”
An elderly resident of Nxuba (formerly Cradock) chuckles at his own joke after hearing that one of his neighbours, Nomonde Beauty Christmas, will be spending the foreseeable future in prison.
However, the case against Christmas (59) is no laughing matter. When the town’s magistrates’ court shot down her formal bail application on Friday, it highlighted a concerning trend that plagues the small Karoo community.
Christmas faces 34 charges of fraud after she allegedly claimed for funeral policies on deceased people in her neighbourhood and lied about being related to them.
She reportedly raked in more than R640,000 from the policies, while nearly the same amount was repudiated, bringing the total amount of fraudulent claims to nearly R1.3-million.
According to statements before the court, she is the beneficiary of more than 110 active funeral policies that are still under investigation, with most of the insured individuals unaware of the policies she holds.
Similar criminal rackets were recently brought to light by the police’s specialised Murder for Money task team, where organised criminal syndicates are believed to have arranged murders to profit from fraudulent funeral policy payouts.
Read more: Eastern Cape hit murders for insurance claims spiral to 50
The sinister get-rich-quick scheme stretches beyond the violent syndicates. Recently, individuals were convicted of identifying potential victims and registering policies in the weeks leading up to their violent deaths.
While they were not directly implicated in the murder plots, they were still convicted and sentenced for committing fraud.
Read more: Funeral policy fraudster jailed, setting Murder for Money investigations precedent
On 9 December, the South African Police Service posted on its Facebook page about the conviction and sentencing of Monelwa Gwane in the Kariega Magistrates’ Court. She was found guilty on three counts related to fraudulent funeral policy claims and sentenced to an effective five years’ imprisonment.
The Eastern Cape police’s Provincial Commercial Crimes Unit launched an investigation into Christmas’s alleged fraud after insurance company Sanlam flagged several of her policies in 2023 for possible criminal activity.
According to evidence presented to the court during bail proceedings on Friday, the day after Christmas was arrested, the insurance company noted inconsistencies in several of the policies she had activated.
/file/attachments/orphans/Cradock-Court-1_482339.jpg "The Nxuba Magistrates’ Court found that Nomonde Christmas could jeopardise the case if she was granted bail, as she has information on many of the witnesses who could be called to testify against her. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
One of the major red flags was that she had multiple policies on the same person, but presented herself as a different relative on the different policies. On one policy, she would be recorded as the subject’s cousin, while on another she would be listed as “distant family member”.
While the details of individual policies were not discussed during court proceedings, it emerged that Christmas was paying upwards of R42,000 in premiums to Sanlam every month.
Besides the 34 policies related to her charges, and a further 110 policies with Sanlam still under investigation, she reportedly has more policies with other insurance companies that could form part of the case.
In the investigating officer’s statement read out in court, Captain Piet Potgieter said Christmas claimed to be an unemployed pensioner at the time of her arrest.
However, in her statement before the court, she claimed to operate a cash loans business from which she derived a R50,000 monthly income, supplemented by a R5,800 monthly pension. Christmas did not deny holding more than 100 policies with Sanlam, but said she would not comment on the charges at this stage, as she had not seen the contents of the police docket.
The statement by Potgieter, who is also the lead investigator of the police’s Murder of Money task team, formed the basis of the prosecution’s case opposing Christmas’s release on bail.
Intimidate witnesses
The State claimed there was a strong likelihood that Christmas would try to influence or intimidate witnesses, as she already knew who they were due to the information she had when taking out the policies.
The court heard that several witnesses were shocked when the investigating officer informed them of the funeral policies taken out on their names. Since her arrest, he has received numerous calls and messages from witnesses and community members, thanking him for arresting her.
In its judgment on the bail application, the court stated that Nxuba had been inundated with cases and queries related to fraudulent funeral policies, and that Christmas was just one example of how prevalent this “crazy” trend had become.
Even though she had relinquished her passport, the court found that due to Christmas’s substantial income, she had the means to flee the country in light of the lengthy jail term that awaited her should she be convicted.
However, the court’s biggest concern was the likelihood that witnesses would face intimidation, as Christmas knows them, lives close to them, and has access to much of their personal information.
The case was postponed for further investigation, and Christmas is scheduled to return to court on 24 February.
Neighbours relieved
On a long dirt road in Nxuba filled with RDP houses on small dusty plots, the Christmas residence stretches for an entire street block. Two facebrick houses, stretched over two plots, are linked in the middle to form one large structure. The entire property, including the pavement bordering the dirt road, is neatly paved.
/file/attachments/orphans/Cradock-Christmas_783985.jpg "In a street filled with tiny RDP houses, the home of the accused, Nomonde Christmas, stands out among the rest. There was no love lost between her and her neighbours, and many were relieved to hear she was behind bars. (Photo: Riaan Marais)")
“She is not here. She was arrested yesterday,” said a woman from across the street.
She refused to give her name, stating that she was a witness in the ongoing investigation and feared for her safety.
She said that Christmas had claimed for funeral policies on two of her family members. “She had no business lying and taking out those policies. It feels like my family was violated for her to profit from this scheme.”
When asked about Christmas, many other residents in Ihobe Street knew about her arrest and expressed their relief.
“I am grateful to the police. I think they saved lives by arresting that woman,” said Pieter Jikase.
Then he chuckled.
“No Christmas for Christmas. But maybe the rest of us will have peace.” DM