Stokvel-municipal employee suspended
"Most members are too scared to come out in fear they might also be suspended"
A whatsapp stokvel has got a municipal employee suspended for allegedly bringing the name and image of the Msukaligwa Municipality into disrepute.
Information leaked to the Highvelder suggests that the Pay Bills group has more than 139 participants, most of whom are employees of the local and district municipality.
Participants contributed R5 000 to join the stokvel with the promise of receiving R10 000 in three days, with a member expected to provide help to another member allocated to him or her.
Some of the members the Highvelder spoke to said the stokvel was losing momentum because some of the participants use more than two numbers to participate and end up receiving more money than others.
The Highvelder saw some of the group messages where members were complaining about not receiving their promised money and others worried that they had made loans and used credit card allowances to join the stokvel in the hope of paying ithe debt off quickly.
It remains unclear on what grounds the municipal employee was suspended. However, another employee suggested that it was because of using municipal infrastructure like computers and time to do personal business.
More than 50 members have already left and others removed from the group, but others remain.
A member speaking on condition of anonymity said the stokvel was a brilliant idea before greed took over. “We were able to pay off bills and take care of other financial matters, but now we’re struggling because of others,” she said.
She also said after the member’s suspension from work, most members are too scared to come out in fear they might also be suspended. However, there are a lot of unhappy members, some of whom still have a hope that they will get their money back.
Mr Ben Raseroka, a trustee of the Stokvel Social Trust, said a genuine stokvel is unlikely to generate a 30 per cent profit, it generally does not own a product or service that can be sold to the market for profit and funds are regulated by a financial institution.
Mr Raseroka also explains that there are two types of stokvels: rotating and accumulating. In rotating stokvels, members contribute a fixed amount of money to a common pool weekly or monthly and take turns to receive a lump sum to use for any given purpose. The money is not banked, as it is paid out as soon as it comes in and does not earn interest.
In an accumulating stokvel, members contribute monthly and if you pay more, your payback will be proportionally higher. The accumulated funds are distributed once a year to all members. Money is banked and attracts interest.
He also shares tips on how to spot an investment scam: It claims to pay double-digit monthly returns; claims to be an opportunity of a lifetime; one cannot understand how it makes money; and returns or profits may be dependent on a participant introducing more members to the scheme.
