Police urge stokvel members to take extra precautions this festive season
Stokvels are invitation only clubs of twelve or more people serving as rotating credit unions or saving scheme in South Africa where members contribute fixed sums of money to a central fund on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis
As the festive season is around the corner, stokvel members are warned to be vigilant when dealing with large sums of cash, say police.
Ekuvukeni police are investigating a case of house robbery after stokvel members were robbed of R38 000 on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said the victim was at home with six stokvel members who were sharing out the cash they had saved up during the year, when three armed men entered the house and demanded money.
They took the money and five cellphones and fled the scene on foot. No one was injured. A case of house robbery was registered at Ekuvukeni for further investigation.
The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Mmamonnye Ngobeni condemned the robbery. “We would like to warn all stokvel members to take extra precautions when dealing with large amounts of cash as these types of cases are very prevalent during the festive season when members are sharing money. The members can arrange with the banks and deposit their cash into their accounts. Community must not withdraw large amount of cash, “she said.
What is a stokvel
Stokvels are invitation only clubs of twelve or more people serving as rotating credit unions or saving scheme in South Africa where members contribute fixed sums of money to a central fund on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis. The name “stokvel” originated from the term “stock fairs”, as the rotating cattle auctions of English settlers in the Eastern Cape during the early 19th century were known.
Stokvels generally have a constitution which dictates the size of the contributions, when the accumulated money is to be paid out and the roles and responsibilities of the members.[3] Each month a different member receives the money in the fund, which was collected during that period. Defaults on contribution are quite rare as other members will know if you haven’t paid your contribution, and also because the regular meetings are a reminder of what you will gain when it is your turn. Depending on the type of stokvels, the members can use the collected fund for their own use, for payment or investment purposes.
It is estimated that one in every two black adult South Africans is a member of at least one of 89 000 stokvels. Black adult South Africans invest approximately R12 billion in stokvels a year.
