Members of the Bambanani Society are fuming after their treasurer allegedly tried to run off with about R129 000 that was supposed to be shared amongst the members.
The woman was arrested by the Galeshewe police on a charge of theft.
The members said they opened a criminal case against the woman after she allegedly confessed to having used the money they had collected over the past months.
“We are eight members and each of us contribute R1 500 each month. We started making contributions since February this year. We would meet and pay the money to the treasurer. The agreement was that the treasurer and the secretary would deposit the money, but the treasurer said that since she worked in town, she would make the deposits at the bank. We saw no problem with that,” one of the members said.
The members said they became suspicious when they were supposed to split their contributions on December 15 this year.
“We had a meeting last Sunday and we went with the expectation that we would get our money. The treasurer instead, during the meeting, asked the members that we postpone the meeting for the dividends to December 20, 2019. There were members who had outstanding money and they gave the money they owed to her. We then again agreed to postpone the meeting as we also wanted the entire bulk of money to be shared.
“We later heard from one of the members that the treasurer told her that she had squandered our contributions. The treasurer apparently asked the member not to tell us. We immediately went and confronted the treasurer and she confessed and said she would replace the money in February next year.”
The members said they were deeply disappointed with the woman and added that they had lost money that was supposed to assist in critical areas of their lives.
Galeshewe police spokesperson Captain Bashaobile Kale said the police are investigating the matter.
“A 38-old-year was arrested for theft after she failed to account for the money of the Bambanani Society, said Kale.
She has since appeared in the Galeshewe Magisrate’s Court on Friday.