Stokvel helps members invest in property

A property lifestyle stokvel called the Bantu Fund Savings Stokvel which began with a few people contributing R100 a month has grown to more than 700 members – and they are buying property with their collective savings.

Bantu Fund Savings stokvel manager Mthobisi Dzanibe said stokvels were no longer about only contributing for groceries or splitting money at the end of the year, but now about making long-term investments.

“A group of our stokvel members have managed to secure 10 apartments within their two years of investing,” said Dzanibe.

“Anyone can simply spend R100 on takeaways, at that moment that R100 might not be much but tomorrow it can save you.”

The group also have projects for student accommodation, Airbnb, office space, lifestyle estates and more, which will see a sizeable return on investment.

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Formed in 2018 under oGathseni Architectural and Engineering, the firm stated “Property Lifestyle Stokvel is not an investment movement, and therefore not governed by the Financial Service Act”, and noted stokvels were self-regulated.

Dzanibe also said what started as an alternative savings mechanism was today a significant force.

“There’s no reason to believe property finance cannot be attainable to millions of individuals putting together their resources for the benefit of stokvel members.”

Head of crowdfarming Bonine Lukhozi said now they wanted to give people personal wealth with their new property investment and farming adventure.

“When we saw that many people were interested in agriculture but lacked the resources, we tapped into a new venture [agricultural investment] to allow people to co-own farms, land, livestock and crops,” said Lukhozi.

“We wanted anyone who dreamed of becoming a farmer to pursue that dream and co-own portions of land no matter where they were, be it a person who is renting or living in an apartment, to have that dream in the comfort of their own place.”

Dzanibe said that research has shown that in the year 2050, there will be a very high shortage of farmers, food and livestock and this came as an opportunity to help people to invest in something that will help them in future while contributing to their own personal wealth.

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Stokvels have moved with the times and have increasingly begun investing in the formal economy and, in recent years, traditional forms of stokvels have merged with property investment clubs.

According to the National Stokvel Association of South Africa (Nasasa), there are more than 810 000 active stokvel groups consisting of more than 11 million South Africans, collecting an estimated R50 billion annually.

With many illegal pyramid or ponzi schemes that continue to pop up defrauding many unsuspecting people of their hard-earned money with the promise of fast financial returns, Nasasa explained that stokvels are defined as a savings or investment society in which a group of people agree to save money together for a defined purpose.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za

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