Africa-Press – Eswatini. In a disturbing trend, a total of at least E250 000 worth of stokvel money has been reported stolen between November and December.
The latest incident happened at Dvokolwako, where thieves supposedly broke into a home and stole over E80 000 of stokvel money. This happened last Friday. Police are still investigating cases and some suspects have been requested to assist them relating to the stolen money. eanwhile, Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed two cases at the moment.
Confirm
“Thieves broke into a home and stole money amounting to over E80 000. We can confirm that we are closely following some people linked to the theft and the police are making a breakthrough,” the police spokesperson revealed. She further confirmed that another case was reported at KaPhunga, where approximately E40 000 was also stolen, belonging to a stokvel, last week. On Friday, this publication reported about one Bongani Tsela, a treasurer of a stokvel, who was charged after purportedly lying to the police that he was robbed of money amounting to E48 000 belonging to the society. Tsela, a 42-year-old of Vusweni under Chief Senzangakhona, allegedly committed the offence at Mncitsini. It was reported that the accused allegedly came up with tricks on how he would purportedly deceive the stokvel members as they were expected to distribute the money they had been saving since January among themselves.
Suspect
The suspect was said to have come up with a trick of supposedly injuring himself, to create the impression that he was injured by people. It has also been gathered that the police took him to hospital for a medical check-up. After he was discharged from the hospital, the accused person is said to have reported the robbery claims at the Mbabane Police Post. The police are said to have had some suspicions as to why the money went missing at this time of the year. The source said they could not arrest him after reporting the matter. “The accused person later came and narrated how he used the stokvel money for his personal gain. “He then handed himself over to the police,” the source further alleged.
When appearing before Senior Magistrate Sifiso Vilakati last week, his right to legal representation was explained to him and he elected to conduct his own defence. The accused person was then remanded in custody until December 15, 2023, pending trial on January 15, 2023. The Crown did not oppose his bail application. “The accused person also went further to tie both his hands and feet. We don’t know how he came up with such a plan. As if that was not enough, Tsela was found with socks stuffed inside his mouth, while also covered in a blanket. He then put the money bag next to the door, which was left wide open,
According to sources close to the matter, Tsela is believed to have used the money for his personal gain. It has been gathered from the sources that Tsela’s first trick of trying to come out innocent in the matter was making attempts to injure himself, so that it looked as if he had been attacked by certain people, who later walked away with the stokvel money.
The source further alleged that members of the stokvel were not aware that their treasurer allegedly misappropriated all the funds for his personal gain.
According to the source, members of the stokvel were under the assumption that thieves came and took away their money a few days before it was to be distributed.
Source: TIMES
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