MAN OWING STOKVEL HANGS HIMSELF

MBABANE – While stokvels give financial relief to many, it was the exact opposite for a man who owed the saving scheme thousands of Emalangeni.

As he grappled with repaying the money he had borrowed from the stokvel from around his community, he concluded that ending his life would be a better option.

As such, he killed himself last week amid demands from the stokvel members to repay the money.
Philani Dlamini (31) of Nyonyane was found hanging in one of the houses within his homestead on Thursday morning.
His body was discovered by his elder sister.
According to his uncle, who identified himself as Moses Dlamini, Philani had not shown any signs of being suicidal or having a major problem.
Moses narrated that he last saw his nephew on Wednesday evening sitting with some of his friends within the family compound.

Suspicions

The uncle passed the group of men and went to visit another homestead. Their suspicions are that Philani killed himself on Wednesday night. After the news of his death spread in the community, the stokvel members who had given Philani the loan came to ask for their money.

It was only then that the family heard that he owed them E9 000, which was the remaining balance from the initial loan of E18 000.
What made matters worse was that Philani was unemployed.

“Philani did not tell me or his mother that there was something bothering him. My nephew was not employed and he had a wife and three children. We suspect he planned the suicide, because he did not go to his house but went where nobody could find him until it was too late,” Moses said.

The uncle explained that the people who loaned his nephew the money came to their homestead, stating that they wanted their money before they (family) could bury Philani.

Moses said they decided to report the stokvel members to the police.
“It is not a matter of whether we will pay it or not but they should have given us a chance to mourn his death and bury him,” he said.
Moses explained that they hoped the police would be able resolve the matter.

He said the police had informed them that should the stokvel members revisit the homestead, they must refer them to the police.
The uncle then questioned how stokvels worked according to the law, especially if they were allowed to loan a large amount of money to people who were not employed.
“Something is not right about this suicide. He seemed fine when I last saw him,” Moses explained.
Confirmed
Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed the suicide.
“We were called to the homestead and the body was taken to the hospital where the medical practitioners confirmed Philani dead. During our investigations, we gathered that there was no suicide note but the man had ended his life because of a debt,” she said.
Vilakati stated that people who had debts should not resort to ending their own lives, as the family members then suffer.
She then pleaded with the nation to discuss any problems they were facing with people they trusted, or to come to the nearest police station for help.
According to Wikipedia, stokvels are invitation only clubs of many people serving as rotating credit unions or saving scheme where members contribute fixed sums of money to a central fund on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. The money is then shared among the members but interest is generated through loaning it out.

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