Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Ibe yimpumelelo itumente yolutsha eQhorha
  • A good financial planner is indispensable
  • Exciting encounters in LFA Premier League weekend games
  • Thembie is working towards STARDOM!
  • From Robben Island to the world
  • A woman with zeal in a male-dominated business
  • WBHO contract and supply application closing date: 31 March 2023
  • Are we protecting the vulnerable?
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»NEWS»‘Somila’ inspires more women’s stokvels
NEWS

‘Somila’ inspires more women’s stokvels

Grocott's Mail ReportersBy Grocott's Mail ReportersAugust 12, 2019No Comments3 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email

By BOITUMELO NTE
In anticipation of National Women’s Day on Friday 9 August, Grocotts Mail met with Somila (Women’s) Stokvel at the Assumption Development Centre (ADC), to highlight the role stokvels play in improving the lives of township women.

‘Somila’ is a 20-member savings stokvel which started in 2015. The stokvel is part of a network of savings clubs affiliated with the Joza-based ADC, a non-profit organisation tasked with entrepreneurship and business skills education in Makhanda’s township communities. Somila, and the 38 other stokvel groups in the network, lend their existence to ADC’s SaveACT programme, which promotes the formation of savings and loan groups in township communities.

Savings-stokvels have a lengthy history in South Africa, and have been part of many a black community, mainly for their role in supplementing income and softening poverty. Members of a savings stokvel contribute a fixed amount of money to the group’s fund, which is later shared among them following a decided cycle or order of payouts.

Somila operates on a minimum joining fee of R50, and following the SaveAct model has a mini-credit facility that charges 10% interest per amount lent to the group’s members. The interest thus forms the stokvel’s main income-generating capacity. The group also uses other means (such as penalties for being absent from a meeting) to boost its fund.

Constituting mainly older mothers, Somila’s members spoke of the stokvel’s economic and social functions in their lives. Member Pumla Ntsongulana said credit loans from the group have assisted the members to start their own businesses at home, or further personal aims such as building and extending their homes. Ntsongulana also added that members enjoy the relief of using their own money to further their goals, other than the more-onerous options of loan sharks and micro-lenders.

Pumla Nondlwana emphasised the stokvel’s social functions, saying Somila empowers the women and provides a platform for mutual assistance on a range of matters concerning the members. The group’s monthly meetings boost the members’ social capital, affording each an opportunity to enhance their friendships.

The Somila mothers also support each other during burials, although the stokvel does not have a dedicated funeral mandate. They hope, however, to incorporate strands of the burial- and investment-type stokvels in their group in the near future. Nondlwana said their goal would be to invest in property for a group farming project.

Nondlwana and Ntsogulana agreed that Somila’s has survived because of its members’ discipline, and acknowledgement of the importance of working together towards a common goal. While the group has capped its membership at 20, Nondlwana said Somila had been the inspiration of many new stokvel groups that have started in the Joza community. These include young women who have shown interest in Somila’s success.

Maso Nduna, SaveAct Facilitator and ADC’s Director, said SaveAct proposed a cap on stokvel numbers for easier management of the control. The largest of the 39 groups under SaveACT has 24 members.

Representative of Somila Stokvel, Ms Pumla Nondlwana (left) and Ms Pumla Ntsangulana (right). Photo: Supplied
Previous ArticleWinter Knights collection bins are overflowing
Next Article An encounter with God… and learning to let go
Grocott's Mail Reporters
  • Website

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.