STOKVELS: CLOSE TO E1M LOST IN 2 MONTHS

MBABANE- EmaSwati have lost close to E1 million to stokvels in a space of two months. This is according to reported cases of stokvel members who either disappeared with the money or claimed to have been robbed. Some money was reported stolen while kept at the Mbabane Police Station.

The latest reported case involves a nurse who was allegedly appointed as a treasurer of a three- year-old stokvel which included 37 members in the Manzini Region.

The nurse is alleged to have left for South Africa, leaving a member of the stokvel with the scheme’s bank card without money after they had saved almost E150 000. However, in an interview with this publication, the health practitioner admitted to have used the money and pledged to pay it back in February next year.

Prior to this incident, a group of 97 women of Khalangilile were left in the lurch when a custodian of their saving scheme claimed to have been robbed of their contributions amounting to E168 000.

This allegedly happened a day before the women were supposed to use the money to buy groceries.
Also, a St Teresa Primary school teacher was recently arrested in connection with alleged theft of E29 600 belonging to a teachers’ stokvel.
She is alleged to have stolen keys to where the money was kept while she is said to have stolen the rest from her colleague’s hand bag during a visit.

Arrest

The arrest of the teacher came after this publication reported about the mysterious disappearance of E100 000 which was reportedly stolen at the Mbabane Police Station on December 6, 2019. The incident was so serious such that the national commissioner of police hinted that someone would be fired if found guilty of the offence.

On November 17, a group of 20 stokvel members in Nkoyoyo were allegedly robbed of their 12 month-long savings.  The money amounted to E300 000.
The custodian of the funds had claimed that robbers broke into her homestead and stole the money.
Traditionally, a stokvel is a pooled savings scheme whereby members opt in to join a saving club or society and each contributes an amount of money every month.

Then based on the predetermined rotation, each member would receive a lump sum payment at a specified time of the year. Some schemes share the money or groceries twice in a year while some share once at the end of the year.

This is also common in South Africa despite the absence of legal protection of the schemes. Some illegal saving schemes entice unsuspecting people to join via WhatsApp and use electronic transfer. This has happened even in Eswatini where unsuspecting emaSwati are lured into joining the illegal scheme on WhatsApp and make contributions through Mobile Money.

However, the public has been warned time and again to refrain from any unregistered money saving schemes.
In random interviews with some stokvel members, they claimed that they joined stokvels so that they could pay school fees for their children since January was always a challenging month. Some said they anticipated sharing groceries ahead of Christmas.
“We are not prepared to talk about what has befallen us. We still do not believe that our treasurer was robbed of our money. We can get our money through the intervention of the authorities,” said the members.

However, one member was quick to state that some treasurers took advantage of the members because they knew that there was currently no law that governed stokvels in the country.

Evidence

He said the treasurers knew that they could not be arrested without solid evidence.
“First of all, the treasurer seems to know that there is no legal protection offered to a stokvel and its members regardless of the fact that the schemes are rapidly growing in the country.
“The matter could be reported to the police but they cannot just arrest without solid evidence. They will need to establish whether the scheme is legal or not,” he said.

He said the legality of a scheme was determined by policies and a valid constitution which was understood by all members.
Swaziland Consumer Forum’s Mandla Ntshakala said the forum had noted the loss being made by members of stokvel saving schemes with great concern. Ntshakala said it was unfortunate that it was not the first time emaSwati have been warned against trusting individuals with their hard earned monies.

He said from the forum’s point of view, there was no doubt that some people formulated strategies to con unsuspecting emaSwati through stokvels.
He said it was unfortunate that there was no system that guided stokvels in the country.
According to Ntshakala, the absence of the policies that guide stokvels has opened floodgates for criminals who pose as members while they have different agendas.

Initiative

“A stokvel is a good initiative because it helps low income earners to save their money for different purposes. However, judging from the latest developments, I think it is high time for government to intervene. I think it would be best for government to ban stokvels until it comes up with a policy that will guide them,” he said.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati was asked if the police were doing something concerning the reported cases. In her response, she stated that what emaSwati needed to understand was the fact that police could not just arrest without evidence. She said stokvel crime was in two fold in that the law looked on the legality of the scheme and the members within the scheme.
She said a member of the scheme could be arrested and charged if there were elements that constituted fraud or theft during their investigations.

Investigation

“All reported cases are under investigation and arrest can happen if criminal elements are established in the cases,” she said.
In a recent interview, Lubane Savings Cooperative General Manager Gugu Vilakati advised locals to refrain from investing in unregistered schemes.
“I would advise people to refrain from joining illegal stokvels because it is quite evident that they end up robbing people of their hard-earned money,” Vilakati was quoted saying.

She said the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) could assist locals with a list of legitimate and registered saving schemes.
She stated that registered entities were supervised by the (FSRA) which means they could not vanish.

Vilakati mentioned that the legitimate saving schemes helped people save their money and then released it to them at the end of the year hassle-free.

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