‘STOKVEL’S E95 000 DISAPPEARS

MANZINI – Some employees of Pick n Pay Matsapha were left in the lurch when a saving scheme they had created ‘sank’ with their savings, amounting to over E95 000.

The 32 employees have since reported one of their own to the police, while alleging that she was the custodian of the money that disappeared.
Amidst the cloud of controversy, the implicated employee has subsequently stopped working for the company.

Members of the saving scheme said their ‘stokvel’ was so popular that other employees had even included their relatives in it, with the high hopes of getting returns.

“I was saving E500, but I know of people who were saving as much as E1 000 per month,” said one employees.
Another employee said members were due to get varying amounts depending on how active they were in lending the money to people and creating interest.
She said things came to a head in December when it was time to cash in on the savings.

“Three people were entrusted to be signatories of the account, and they went to the EswatiniBank (a stone’s throw from the supermarket), to withdraw the money. They all appended their signatures to the withdrawal slip and signed necessary documentation, until one of them realised she had forgotten her ID card at home. Since this was a requirement, the process was halted and she went home to fetch the ID card. However, since all other formalities had been done, she produced her ID and was given the money,” alleged the source.

It was then said that the former employee took the money home, instead of the arranged meeting with the members for sharing the money.
“When she later returned, after a week, she apologised and said she had deposited it in another saving scheme which was to give her quick yields. She promised to give us the money the following week. She then paid just a few members and kept the rest of us in the dark,” another employee alleged.

struggling

The former employee is said to have later reported to members of the scheme that she was struggling to get the money back.
“We asked for the contact details of the people running the new scheme, but she said she had none. She said she had been introduced to the scheme by a certain woman she had met while on a trip to Mozambique. We asked for the phone numbers of that woman, but she also said she had none,” the employees alleged.

The sources said enraged members of the cooperative then reported the matter to the Matsapha Police.

statements

“The police recorded statements from only two employees and later said they would require all members of the scheme to go to the police headquarters for further statements. That was done,” the source said.
The sources said the police later started advising the workers to get a lawyer for the case, something that baffled them, because they were of the view that this was a criminal case.

The former employee, when called by the Times yesterday, said the matter was with the police, which was why she preferred not to comment.
No amount of persuasion that she talks, given that the matter was not yet in court, could convince her.
“I know that the police are dealing with it and I choose not to comment at this stage,” she said.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati advised that the aggrieved employees should go to the police and state their case because when records were checked, there was no active investigation on the matter.
A Pick n Pay manager vehemently refused to be interviewed and also declined to give direction to the Times on who was eligible to respond to questions from the media.

However, it was gathered that management of the retailer had nothing to do with the saving scheme as it was done by the employees on their own.

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