The Financial Sector Conduct Authority has debarred Joy Praise Kgaphola for 20 years and imposed an administrative penalty of R300 000 after finding that he solicited investments without the required authorisation and used clients’ money for personal purchases.
The regulatory action followed an investigation into Kgaphola and Datum RS (Pty) Ltd, of which he was the sole director, the FSCA said in a statement on 23 October 2026. According to the Authority, they used Datum’s social-media accounts to solicit investments from members of the public.
They offered to trade in derivative instruments and crypto assets on clients’ behalf, despite not being authorised to provide the financial services concerned.
The social-media accounts also advertised investment packages promising what the FSCA described as “unrealistically high returns” within five or eight days. One package offered a return of R1 000 within eight days on an investment of R300.
The investigation found that clients deposited about R129 000 into Kgaphola’s personal bank accounts. Contrary to the representations made to them, he did not invest their money in derivative instruments. The regulator found that he misappropriated the funds and used them for personal purchases.
The FSCA found that Datum and Kgaphola provided and promoted financial services without authorisation and made misleading representations about the services they offered. It found that they had materially contravened section 7(1)(a) of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act; section 8(9)(c) of the Act, read with regulation 3(b) of the FAIS Regulations; and regulation 3(a).
The Authority said it would formally refer the matter to the criminal authorities because it appeared that several offences had been committed.
The FSCA had previously warned the public about Datum RS in May 2023. At the time, the regulator said Datum RS was falsely presenting itself as a financial services provider and claiming to be associated with authorised provider QuickTrade (Pty) Ltd. QuickTrade denied any association with Datum RS.
