E30 000 GOES MISSING AT SMALL CLAIMS COURT

MBABANE – The establishment of the small claims courts was supposed to bring relief to many emaSwati, but it seems that is no longer the case.

Allegations of fraud have emerged at the Mbabane Small Claims Court. Some members of the public, who were owed various sums of money, are said to have approached the Mbabane Small Claims Court. These individuals discovered that their monies, which were paid through court messengers, had gone missing. As a result, money amounting to over E30 000 did not reach its rightful owners. The alleged fraud was confirmed by some court officials last Wednesday morning, after this publication made some enquiries regarding the matter. It has been gathered from the sources that the owed individuals made the discovery of the missing money after being informed by the people who owed them that they had paid the monies through court messengers. The owed people started visiting the small claims court, situated at the Municipal Council of Mbabane, to enquiry about their missing money. They wanted to find out from the court what had happened to their money.  

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Some of the affected members of the public said they had lost hope in the small claims courts. It has been gathered from sources that some people were calling court clerks to demand their money. One of the victims, who lost an amount of E500, said it was shocking to see corruption taking place in the court. According a source, an employee of the court was acting like a mediator in ensuring that all the documents between the plaintiff and defendant had been processed for payment. The source said despite the court employee working independently, he was discovered to have been collecting the money from the defendant and not remitting it to the rightful owner. “The employee is said to have been calling and telling debtors to personally give him the money so that he can take it to the rightful owners, which he never did,” said the source. The source further revealed that even some of the court clerks were allegedly involved in the theft of the money, by contacting the defendants privately and demanding the money.

It is being alleged that one of the court clerks, whose name will not be disclosed for now, allegedly demanded money from one of the debtors, with the purported intention of remitting it to the plaintiff. The source said the debtor was not aware that the clerks collected the money for their personal gain. “This clerk would call those who lost their cases anytime he was broke and demand the money, saying the rightful owners seriously wanted it. The debtors, as a result of being intimidated, ended up giving him the money and the payments were made via Mobile Money,” said the dejected victim. The source revealed that they made the discovery after the transfer of the clerks. According to the victim, there had been instances where some of the clerks had to be called while on leave regarding outstanding monies.

He said it was then discovered that payments were made and also given to one of the implicated officers to remit to the rightful owners, but that never happened. He said that left them shocked. “I do understand that small claims courts have been established recently, but we want the truth regarding our missing money so that other emaSwati are protected from any form of fraud. There is this employee who stole money amounting to E30 000 belonging to various emaSwati and also the clerk did the same. “They are just taking advantage of the fact that they think we will just sit down and let them do as they please. Maybe they thought kutawugcinela lapha kubo. I go to the small claims court because someone is owing me money, which end up disappearing in the same small claims court. This is unfair,” lamented the victim.

The source further revealed that one of the implicated officers called the person who was owing him (source) money and demanded the payments. He alleged that the incident took place during the Buganu Festival. The officer is alleged to have taken money amounting to E200 at that time, since he did not pay the full amount of money. It is being suspected that the clerk wanted the money to fuel his car. “It is a problem if court staff become perpetrators of crime. This is now a problem which must be corrected before it gets out of hand. Let them not victimise us just because we need help,” said the source. The frustrated source revealed that some people were complaining bitterly while at the court after they were told that the employee had allegedly disappeared with their money and he was nowhere to be found. “One of the court staff members told others who were also affected kutsi ababe ncesi and there is nothing they can do,” said the source.

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