Jeffreys Bay police advised stokvel members to use electronic banking methods or to individually deposit their monthly contributions to the club account instead of giving a club treasurer or one member to deposit collected contributions at once. This follows an incident where police nabbed a 38-year-old woman (stokvel member) of theft at Jeffreys Bay today. It is believed that a suspect failed to deposit monthly members’ contributions into the club account for a year.
On Friday, 14 December 2018, around 22:00, one of the stokvel club members in Jeffreys Bay opened a case of theft after he and other members realized that their treasurer (stokvel treasurer) did not do any deposit transactions into the club account for the past eleven months. The missing amount is estimated to be around R91 690. The case of theft opened raised an interesting dimension into the investigation of a missing person (38-year-old suspect) that was initially reported on Tuesday, 11 December 2018 by the suspect’s husband.
On Monday, 17 December 2018, a 38-year-old suspect reported at Graaff Reinet Police Station, where she gave reasons for her questionable ‘disappearance’. On Wednesday, 19 December 2018 around 7am, police arrested a 38-year-old woman and is due to appear at the Humansdorp Magistrate’s Court tomorrow on charges of theft.
“Stokvel club members are advised to visit their banks and be taught on how to utilize available electronic banking services so as to avoid similar incidents of cash crimes, such as theft and robberies,” added Humansdorp Cluster Commander, Brigadier John Lebok.