Fidentia+victims+left+to+go+hungry,+Glynnis+Underhill,+S+Independent

Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, March 11, 2007 //Edition 1//
=Fidentia victims left to go hungry=

//With the shock of no payout this month, widows and orphans face weeks with no food and possible eviction as they cannot pay rent and mortgages//


 * GLYNNIS UNDERHILL**

Dorothy Klein, 29, supports her four siblings, aged 11 to 26, on her own pay and R600 a month from the death benefits of her father, a municipal worker who died four years ago. Patricia Moffot, a 36-year-old mother of three, keeps herself and her family going on the monthly R4 000 left in trust for her children in the South African Municipal Worker's Union (Samwu) beneficiaries' trust fund.

Both women went to collect their money at the beginning of this month and found there was nothing to collect - and they are just two of the estimated 47 000 widows and orphans scattered all over South Africa and Lesotho whose benefits have disappeared after they were entrusted to the asset-management company Fidentia, via the Living Hands Umbrella Trust.

The biggest victims of the Fidentia scandal are the beneficiaries of the Mineworkers Provident Fund, which had placed R840 million in the Living Hands trust, and the Samwu beneficiaries trust fund, which had R109 million invested in the same trust.

Many widows and orphans in rural areas would not even know yet that their money had been pilfered, said George Papadakis, a curator of Fidentia and forensic accountant who is trying to raise cash for distribution to widows and orphans.

Papadakis said that, of the R1,4 billion entrusted to the Living Hands trust on behalf of all the widows and orphans, there was only R1,8 million in cash remaining to pay March benefits. The future now looks bleak for the widows and orphans, as more than R10 million is needed each month to pay their benefits.

It was reported on Thursday that investors in Fidentia may end up getting only half their money back and that they might have to wait up to four years because investigations into the company's assets and finances have been extended offshore.

The curators were also assessing the value of luxurious properties in the Eastern Cape, including game farms.

Dines Gihwala, one of the court-appointed curators, said that the curators hoped to realise the shortfall, which is more than R1 billion, but realistically they would probably get out less than that - about 50c for every rand invested in the company.

Fidentia bosses J Arthur Brown and Graham Maddock are due to appear in court on Thursday to face charges of theft and fraud.

But their arrest is of little help to Klein, who lives in a run-down block of flats with her four siblings. The outside walls of the flats are adorned by graffiti and peeling paint, but inside her tiny two-bedroom flat the rooms are spotless.

Klein looks after her siblings, Celine, 26, Rozanne, 24, Elmarie, 20, and Sidwell, 11. Her mother Angeline lives in another neighbourhood in Worcester, but all the children stayed in this flat with her father after her parents' divorce, she said.

Her father worked at the Worcester municipality as a general worker until his death from cancer four years ago. His death benefits were left to his five children.

The R600 the Klein children received from the Samwu beneficiaries' fund each month helped them survive, as Dorothy is the only one working among the sisters.

But to their dismay, the children discovered that there was no money this month, and no guarantees of when any further payouts will be made.

"We used the R600 to pay rent and buy bread. What are we going to do now?" Klein asked.

Moffot said she had no money to feed her three children following the collapse of Fidentia.

"I cry every day. What on earth am I going to do?" she asked, as her 18-month-old daughter Micayla climbed on to her lap. "We don't even have any money for bread and I could lose my home if I don't pay my mortgage."

She went to the bank on March 1 to collect the monthly payout of R4 000, but found there had been no payout. Interviewed at her home in the dusty Hex Park neighbourhood on the outskirts of Worcester, Moffot spoke of her confusion at how the money could just disappear.

"I don't understand how anyone can take money meant for children," she said. "I don't know what I am going to do. I can't even buy milk for my baby."

Moffot's husband worked at the Worcester municipality as an accountant until his unexpected death by choking 18 months ago, when she was pregnant with their daughter.

Moffot said there was no letter or telephone call from anyone informing her of the disaster that had befallen her children's funds.

Themba Mfeka, the principal officer of Samwu's national provident fund, said there were moves to try to secure additional funds to assist the widows and orphans, but nothing had been finalised.

"But I was told there is a strong possibility that people could be paid soon for March by the curators. We don't know about next month, but we will have to see," he said. - additional reporting by Sapa


 * From: http://www.sundayindependent.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3724859**

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