Maserati Bryanston owner Bruce Zungu has reportedly been arrested in connection with an alleged fraud investigation, putting the luxury dealership at the centre of renewed scrutiny over its business dealings.
The arrest follows allegations surrounding vehicles belonging to several clients who claim the ownership of his vehicle was changed to the dealership without his knowledge before the car was later repossessed by the banks.
In a previous report by BuzzLife News, one of the clients who does not wish to be named had entered into an arrangement with Maserati Bryanston allowing the dealership to display his vehicle as a showroom car. In return, he was allegedly promised R40,000 a month and could use the Maserati on weekends before returning it to the dealership during the week.
The arrangement allegedly collapsed when the client arrived at the dealership to collect his car and discovered it was no longer there.
He subsequently learned that the vehicle had allegedly been transferred from his name into the dealership’s name without his knowledge or consent. The vehicle was then among cars repossessed by the bank after the dealership allegedly failed to settle its obligations to the bank.
“This is fraud as far as I’m concerned. How does ownership get changed without my knowledge?”
He said he had trusted the dealership because he had been a loyal customer and believed he was helping the business by allowing his vehicle to be displayed.
“I trusted them because I had been a loyal client for years. I was doing them a favour by allowing them to display my vehicle, and now I don’t even have my car. I will be taking legal action against everyone involved,” he said.
The latest allegations have now been followed by reports of Zungu’s arrest. However, details about the exact charges, the investigating authority and Zungu’s court appearance were not independently confirmed in the publicly available sources reviewed for this update. The allegations should therefore be treated as such until they are tested in court.
The development has also revived attention around Maserati Bryanston’s previous high-profile dispute with Grammy-winning South African DJ Black Coffee.
Black Coffee, whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo, is currently involved in a separate civil legal battle with Maserati South Africa over a customised MC20 Cielo valued at about R9 million.
According to court papers reports, Maphumulo bought an MC20 Coupe from the dealership in 2022 for about R7 million before deciding to upgrade to the MC20 Cielo. Maserati allegedly offered him R7 million as a trade-in on his existing vehicle, with the remaining R2 million to be paid when the new car was delivered.
Black Coffee alleges that the parties agreed to a July 2025 delivery date. He says he was later informed that the customised vehicle would only enter production in August and that there was no confirmed delivery date.
He subsequently sought cancellation of the agreement and repayment of the R7 million trade-in value.
Maserati South Africa disputes his version of events. The company denies that a July 2025 delivery deadline was agreed and says highly customised vehicles require at least nine months to produce once specifications have been confirmed. It further argues that Black Coffee had requested additional customisations that required approval before production could proceed.
The Black Coffee matter is a civil dispute and should not be confused with the criminal allegations now surrounding Zungu. There has been no court finding that Maserati Bryanston or Zungu committed fraud in relation to Black Coffee’s case.
The dealership has also previously attracted attention over Jamela’s vehicle dispute, with the businessman alleging that his car was transferred into the dealership’s name without his consent. At the time, Zungu could not be reached for comment despite attempts by BuzzLife News to obtain his response. Authorities had not confirmed the case at the timeof publishing.
The latest arrest could now bring greater attention to the circumstances surrounding the dealership’s handling of customer vehicles and ownership documentation.
For now, however, the central allegations remain unproven. An arrest does not amount to a conviction, and Zungu is presumed innocent unless and until a court finds otherwise. Maserati Bryanston and Zungu have not, at the time of publication, provided a detailed public response to the reported arrest.
