One woman’s struggle against addiction

On Wednesday October 4, Nikki Munitz revisited Cavendish Square, where, several years earlier, she had relapsed as a heroin addict while working as a waitress at one of the mall’s restaurants. This time, however, she was launching, Fraud: How prison set me free, a memoir detailing her struggle with addiction. It describes how as a young Jewish heroin addict, she meets a handsome, wealthy man while at a drug-rehab centre. At 21 and finished with rehab, she marries him, but the toxic marriage soon crumbles as does her job at a high-powered law firm after she steals R2.5 million from a trust. By the time the law catches up with her in 2008, she has been clean for five years and has two young children. After a long court battle, she is found guilty of 37 counts of fraud and sentenced to eight years in jail. In 2014, she does nine months at Johannesburg Prison, also known as Sun City Jail, and the rest of her sentence is done under house arrest. Munitz now works in Johannesburg as a self-esteem counsellor and addiction specialist. She is married to Clive Moore and the couple are busy relocating to Tokai.