Widows+and+orphans+go+hungry,+Saturday+Star

Saturday Star, Johannesburg, March 03, 2007 //Edition 1//
=Widows and orphans go hungry=


 * Glynnis Underhill**

In a massive pending southern African social disaster, tens of thousands of widows and orphans of mineworkers and other lower-paid workers could go hungry this month because of the Fidentia collapse.

Of the more than an R1,1-billion entrusted to asset management company Fidentia on their behalf, only R1,8-million in cash was left to pay them their March benefits.

This was revealed by Fidentia curator and forensic accountant George Papadakis, who said more than R10-million a month was needed to pay benefits - and the curators were still hoping to trace further funds for the payouts, which should have been paid on March 1.

"Professionally this has not been a difficult job. But it was the most difficult moment of my career when caregivers started phoning us and saying that if we haven't got their money, they will kill their kids rather than have them starve to death. That was just traumatic for us," said Papadakis.

When the joint curators arrived at Fidentia, which is owned by former instant-lawn salesman J Arthur W Brown, they were told that none of the beneficiaries had received their latest monthly benefits, which were due to be paid on February 1.

The curators managed to pay R5-million, but this fell well short of the company's commitments to those who depend on these payments to survive and pay bills. Now the curators were "scratching around" to meet the March 1 payments, but so far they had raised only R1,8-million

Papadakis said the widows and orphans usually received between R70 and R500 a month from their investments at Fidentia.

The single biggest investor at Fidentia was the Mineworkers' Provident Fund, which placed its money in Fidentia's Living Hands Umbrella Trust, intending it to assist the families of mineworkers killed in underground accidents.


 * From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3711690**

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