Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

In a new Priority Escapes case, Francois Swart accused of defrauding ‘friends’ of R250k

Another case of fraud has been filed against Priority Escapes managing director Francois Swart today. This time for a R250 000 Maldives holiday that he was supposed to arrange for people he personally knew, referred to as his friends and who were supposedly “important” to him. The number of cases being represented by AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit now stands at five. The alleged holiday swindler remains in custody while awaiting the outcome of his bail application in another case being handled by the unit. He is scheduled to appear in the Randburg Magistrates Court again tomorrow.

Today, the unit assisted the businessman Darren Gallias in filing a case at the Douglasdale Police Station. In his affidavit, he explains how on 8 August 2023 he paid more than R250 000 to Priority Escapes for a Maldives vacation scheduled for December of the same year. He received a booking confirmation but Swart messaged Gallias four days later, saying Priority Escapes had “hit a bump in the road” and needed to “regroup as a business”. Gallias conducted his own investigation and discovered that neither his flights nor his accommodations had been booked or paid for.

It has come to light in the cases represented by AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit that Swart had informed clients as early as 12 July 2023 that he could no longer meet his financial obligations. He however continued to accept money from clients to book holidays. These holidays never materialised. The unit also represents Ruan Kruger, Louis Andre Botha, Casper Groenewald, and couple Pamela-Anne Dolan and Bugs van Heerden.

Barry Bateman, Spokesperson for AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, says these cases are uncomplicated: “The criminal complaints are straightforward. The complainants paid the suspect in full to make holiday arrangements on their behalf. The suspect then presented them with documents claiming that the trip to the Maldives, including flights and hotel accommodation, had been arranged and paid for in full. It was later discovered that all of the documents were falsified.”

Gallias says he felt compelled to open the criminal case because of the number of people Swart allegedly defrauded. “This was a friend of my wife’s who we trusted. We had booked a great holiday with him before and had no reason to believe that this wouldn’t be the same experience. However, we paid R252 000 on the Thursday and by the Saturday he closed his business. Unfortunately, we lost our holiday. I’m not doing this for me, but for all those people who had lost their hard earnings. I believe there was even a lady who was diagnosed with cancer that had saved up all of her money for this holiday. I am coming forward to help those people,” says Gallias.

Swart is scheduled to appear in the Ransburg Magistrates Court tomorrow, 25 February.