STOKVEL’S E100K MISSING, TREASURER ATTEMPTS SUICIDE

MANZINI – A stokvel treasurer is alleged to have attempted suicide, after it was discovered that she purportedly squandered about E100 000 of members’ savings.

Members of the informal savings and credit cooperative scheme mostly come from the rural community of Sidvokodvo, on the outskirts of Manzini, where the treasurer’s home is also situated. The woman, who was part of the savings scheme, is said to be the wife of a soldier. She and other women formed the scheme a few years ago, and have been benefitting without any qualms. It was said that the sole intention of the stokvel was to empower members to get cash for Christmas shopping and cover back-to-school expenses. “In the course of the year, we were borrowing money and even extended the credit to friends and relatives. This helped to increase the payout for each member at the end of the year.”

Interests

It was said that in November, the committee met to calculate the interests and found a huge shortfall, after which they called the treasurer to account. She is said to have asked for the patience of the members, as she had a plan to replace the money. However, as weeks passed by, some members were impatient with her and demanded the money with immediate effect.
“Last week, while at home, we gathered that she ingested a poisonous substance and had to be rushed to hospital, where she was revived. We do not know the type of substance she took, but we were relieved to know that she had survived,” a member said.

Efforts to get an interview from the treasurer failed, as her relatives prevented her from using her phone to protect her from desperate stokvel members who are demanding their money. In December last year, E634 566-worth of stokvel money was reportedly stolen, according to the Commercial Crimes and Fraud Unit. Ten cases were reportedly filed, with the funds having been kept with treasurers rather than being kept in the bank. The Fraud Unit highlighted the dangers of not keeping stokvel funds in a safe and secure place. It urged stokvel members to take precautions to protect their money. Head of the Fraud Unit Senior Superintendent Nicholas Jele, said the major problem in all these cases is that the monies are kept by treasurers, ‘much against our advice of opening bank accounts. Worth noting is that some of the cases are staged robberies’.

Urged

Jele further urged and encouraged all stokvel members to open bank accounts to avoid losses. Last year, this publication reported several stokvel incidents, where people were robbed of their monies, supposedly by their treasurers. One incident involved that of a treasurer of a stokvel, who was charged after purportedly lying to the police that he was robbed of money amounting to E48 000 belonging to the society at Mncitsini. It was reported that the accused allegedly came up with tricks on how he would purportedly deceive the stokvel members, as they were expected to distribute the money they had been saving since January among themselves.

The suspect was said to have come up with a trick of supposedly injuring himself, to create an impression that he was injured by the thugs who later stole the money. The accused was reportedly taken to the hospital for a medical check-up. After he was discharged from the hospital, the accused person was said to have reported the robbery claims at the Mbabane Police Post.  They allegedly had some suspicions as to why the money went missing at this time of the year. He was then investigated and charged with theft.

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