DOWN THE DRAIN

It is not looking good for villagers who had given monies to Moshupa Cooperative Society, thinking they are making an investment. The society is now broke, and chances are that investors might never get their monies back.As the month of June draws to an end, many Moshupa residents who had put their monies at the cooperative society are growing restless because they do not know if a group of men and women that were picked early this month to investigate what has happened to their money will be able to dig out anything tangible.Speaking to The Midweek Sun in Moshupa this week, frustrated residents, the young and old, shared how the Co-op made them give them their monies, promising that they are keeping it safe for them. The agreement was that when the investor needed his or her money, they would just come to the premises of the Co-op and would be given the amount they needed.“They operated more like a bank, you give them money and they keep it safe for you. The relationship was healthy until sometime last year when we were told that there is no money because business was not going well. When we came here demanding money, they would promise to assist in three months or so, that was the beginning of horror,” cried one of the affected residents.They all shared how they poured huge sums of money into the Co-op, adding that they get heart palpitations every time they consider possibilities of all their monies not being recovered.“We are sick our High blood pressure is so high, they have my P6000, I have nothing as you can see, ke mosetlha hela ga ke iphe sepe,” one devastated elderly person said.She added that some people have died because of stress, she recalled how someone she knows is no more, saying she died still talking about the monies she gave to the Co-op.One man alleged that some people had sold their cows and invested their money with the Co-op, “We are talking about P90 000, the management should get serious. We were in a meeting early this month and they told us that they owe us more than P12 million.”He went on to explain that at the meeting, the Co-op management was basically telling them that chances are high that they will not have their money back because there is no money. He alleged that it was said there is only P7 000 available.“We really do not know how all this will end, this is why we are not comfortable sharing our names at this point because we do not want to be victimised, we are giving them time to pay us back. The entire village is crying.”When The Midweek Sun visited Co-op premises, we were met by a man who introduced himself as Philip Shibaloko, saying he is the General Manager.“Yea there was a meeting recently but I cannot really answer anything before talking to the board. They will be here tomorrow (Tuesday), maybe you can call then and I will arrange for you to speak to them,” Shibaloko said.On Tuesday morning, contacts that had been shared by Shibaloko as their business numbers were unavailable.Kgosi Oscar Mosielele of Moshupa village said he knows about the matter but was not willing to comment, saying the matter is still being discussed at local authority level."It does appear there are things which were not done right by the management, allegations are that their books were not audited, I will not comment for now," Mosielele said.

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DOWN THE DRAIN