STOKVELS that make a difference in their communities are few.
But when SunStokvel recently attended a meeting organised by newly-formed stokvels in Pimville zone 5, Soweto, we saw another side of what stokvels can do.
Hosted by the Pimville United Brothers and Sisters, or Pubs for short, its members have formed a non-profit organisation to focus on empowering their members as well as the community.
They organise soccer tournaments for kids during school holidays and also plan to open an internet cafe where people can learn about computers.
Tshepo Vana, spokesman and chairman of Pubs, said: “We also want to donate food parcels and other items to centres or needy individuals.”
He said they wanted to do more than save money as a traditional stokvel or burial society by actively working towards poverty eradication by creating projects that benefit the whole community and that they hoped this would challenge other stokvels to do something just as worthwhile.
They meet once a month and each member contributes R170. Of this, R100 is deposited in their society’s bank account and R70 pays for refreshments.
They also have an underwriter who covers burials for members who pay an extra R260.
