Burial society treasurer accused of squandering $5 000

DAGGERS have been drawn among members of a burial society after a treasurer allegedly squandered about $5 000 and is now claiming it was misused by a deceased member.

Thuthukani Burial Society was established in 1998 and is made up of about 50 members from Lobengula West.

Mrs Simelani Dube, of 5600 in the suburb, is the founding treasurer.

The society entrusted its funds to her because she is a businesswoman.

Dube was supposed to be in possession of about $9 245 subscriptions money when the offence was discovered.

The society yesterday dragged Mrs Dube to court for allegedly squandering more than $5 000 under unclear circumstances.

In her defence, she is saying the society's late vice president Agness Mbila had taken over as the treasurer and all the money was in her possession when she died in November last year.

The other members are disputing the claims.

Mrs Dube appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Ms Sibongile Msipa to defend the claims.

The burial society approached the Civil Court housed at Tredgold Building seeking an order compelling her to pay back the $5 094.

Through her lawyer, Mr Kholwani Ngwenya, of Mabhikwa, Hikwa and Nyathi Legal Practitioners, Mrs Dube said she surrendered all the money to Mbila when she travelled to South Africa on an emergency.

She said Mbila's husband undertook to pay back the money on behalf of his late wife but society members disputed it saying there had not been any engagement with Mbila's family over the matter.

Mrs Dube prays that the application be dismissed on the grounds that she had surrendered all the money to Mbila.

Five members of Thuthukani Burial Society, who are represented by Miss Busi Dube, of Cheda and Partners, testified in court and concurred that Mrs Dube had been entrusted with the money as their treasurer.

Each of the five witnesses testified that there was an executive committee that was responsible for the day to day running of the society's business and the treasurer, Mrs Dube, was responsible for receiving and keeping funds.

They said a resolution was passed that in the event that Mrs Dube was not around, as she would travel outside the country, the money would be handed to Mbila in her capacity as vice-president. Mbila would surrender it to Mrs Dube as soon as she returned.

Allegations are that Mrs Dube instead squandered the money and allegedly found a loophole in the death of Mbila.

She started saying Mbila was the one who misused the funds. The court was told that at a meeting on 2 December last year after Mbila's death, members were informed that out of the $9 000 that was in the coffers, $4 150 was recovered at Mbila's place of residence.

It is the members' argument that Mbila would be entitled to keeping about $2 000 each time Mrs Dube was not around, an amount which was equivalent to payouts for two funerals.

She would return the money to Mrs Dube as soon as she returned.

The court was told that not at any time did any member get a complaint from Mrs Dube that she had not been given the money by Mbila until her death, hence they are convinced Mrs Dube is using her death as a scapegoat.

The burial society is reportedly disintegrating with some members aligned to Mrs Dube reportedly no longer paying subscriptions while those loyal to the other group are demanding the funds back.

A witness said at some point last year, they wanted to take the money to the bank to open an account but Mrs Dube begged to be given three months to raise the money as she had used part of it.

She had allegedly not done so when Mbila died and she started claiming that the money was in her possession on her death.

Ms Msipa postponed the matter to Tuesday next week for continuation.