TSHOLOFELO MOTIANG and his friends wanted to see their money grow, so they joined a stokvel.
What can possibly go wrong when professionals work together to make their money grow? Nothing, right?
Unless some members are out and out crooks waiting to rob their partners...!
When they joined, they thought it would be a way of investing money to be used for future needs.
But one of their own had a different plan about their hard-earned cash.
Now, some of the members of Codesa2 Social Club are fighting to get back more than R100 000 that never reached the bank. It appears the money went straight to the pockets of the two robbers, who are members of the social club.
“All we want is our money back so we can get on with our lives,” said Tsholofelo, general secretary of the club.
He said the members, who are all professional business people meet in Stinkwater, Hammanskraal every Sunday to contribute money with the aim of banking it and making interest.
“But recently we suspected that something strange was going on when we demanded to see bank statements and proof of deposits from two of our signatories.
“But they ducked and dived and avoided being transparent with us. Then we realised that all along, the money we contributed was never deposited in the bank,” Tsholofelo said.
“We established that the proof they produced was fake.
“The bank statement and the stamp of the receipts were also fake,” he said.
“One of the crooks even offered to take the money to the bank, but then we found out that he went somewhere to get fake slips.
“We never suspected anything because we trusted everyone since we are all professionals.”
Tsholofelo said he wanted to warn people who belong to social clubs to frequently do audits so that they can make sure their money is safe.
“People get robbed by those they know and trust. The culprits who robbed us over R100 000 and the other one who pocketed R24 000 must pay back our money,” he said.
“We have been ripped off since March until October and we had no choice but to open a case of fraud and theft against the two suspects.”
Sergeant Herman Moremi of Temba cop shop said one of the suspects who was arrested on Tuesday morning was later released after his statement was obtained, and that the money was paid back before a case was registered.
Moremi said the other suspect was still in custody and facing a charge of fraud.
