Bank dupes illiterate ex-miners

. . . huge sums disappear for good

MATHATISI SEBUSI

MASERU – There are growing fears TEBA Bank, which has since gone into liquidation, could have sunk millions of Maloti belonging to former miners through a dubious investment scheme from which beneficiaries never recovered a cent.

The South Africa-based bank is now trading as Ubank since 2010.

To aggravate the situation, some of the investors Public Eye spoke to showed the bank did not explain what the investment was about to the miners who in some cases were illiterate and had to sign using a left thumb, in lieu of formal signatures.

While there are certificates of investment, copies of which Public Eye has seen, the miners and their beneficiaries thought these related to their terminal benefits from the mines.

One of the victims, who has since died, was duped into investing more than M250 000 between 2002 and 2005 when he retired from the mines due to TB and silicosis. He has since died in 2013 without either accessing his benefits or any payment from the so-called investment.

Basotho ex-miners and their beneficiaries who claim to have been conned into investing their money with TEBA bank, now called Ubank, are in distress with no idea who to demand what is due to them from.

While they believe TEBA-Lesotho is the country’s representative and is therefore liable to ensure that they get paid, TEBA-Lesotho has distanced itself from the allegations and Basotho’s expectation putting South African Ubank under the spotlight. TEBA Bank’s successor, Ubank, is under the spotlight for misleading illiterate ex-miners into investing their hard earned money without ensuring that they fully understand what they were signing up for.

Some ex-miners who approached this paper said dating back to 2002, they were made to sign investment certificates without any explanation of what they entail and only discovered years later that they had invested with TEBA bank. They say years after their retrenchments or retirement their family members made them aware that they had been made to invest their money with the entity with maturity times ranging between three months and seven months and interest rates ranging from 4.75 percent to 10.00 percent.

To date, the investors have not received their money and no clear explanation has been given to them other than that the bank has been liquidated.

Nts’ebo Motsamai, a daughter to deceased Ramabanta Ranko who worked at President Steyn Gold Mine in Welkom from 1973 to 2002 said when her father was sent home after contracting TB and Silicosis in the mines, he did not get any severance pay.

Instead, he came home with signed certificates that he was unable to explain. She said her father only told the family that they were documents from TEBA that he was told to sign before coming home.

She said her father during the time he was inquiring about his severance payment, between 2002 and 2005 was made to sign other investment certificates which at the time he thought was part of the procedure for him to get his money.

Motsamai said the family did not pay enough attention to the signed documents as they did not believe they had anything to do with their father’s benefits.

She added that several years later, after they discovered the investment, her father approached TEBA-Lesotho to inquire about the investment and TEBA Lesotho’s Regional Manager Samuel Moeletsi told them that he does not know anything about the issue therefore they should consult TEBA headquarters where the father went with Coordinator for Ex-Mineworkers Association Rants’o Mantsi.

“On their arrival, they were told that they should consult Ubank but the bank told them that my father delayed to claim his funds as a result the money had been classified under unclaimed funds.

“My father died of TB and Silicosis in 2013 without getting his money.

 “In total, my father was made to invest around M266, 000.00 with TEBA bank and the deposit certificate bears names ‘TEBA BANK FIXED TERM DEPOSIT CERTIFICATE,” she said.

The investment certificates which this publication has seen have been signed with the left thumb signature and show that on April 18, 2002 Ranko signed an investment of M10, 000.00 with maturity time of six months. The investment attracted 8.90 percent interest per annum.

On the same day, another M40, 000.00 was invested for seven months with interest rate of 8.90 percent per year. 

On October 18, 2002, Ranko signed an investment of M52, 000.00 with maturity duration of seven months and interest rate of 10.00 per annum.

Also on May 23, 2003 an investment of M55, 000.00 was made and signed by Ranko. The investment was supposed to mature within seven months attracting 10.00 percent interest rate per annum.

On June 23 2004, Ranko signed an investment of M59, 400.00 for six months with interest rate of 5.25 percent per annum.

The last investment certificate which was signed was on December 23, 2005 where Ranko invested M50, 000.00 with 4.75 percent interest rate per annum.

Mantsi told Public Eye that after consulting TEBA headquarters in South Africa, they were told that TEBA bank has been liquidated therefore the ex-miners’ money has been lost for good. He said investors were not informed about the bank’s bankruptcy and liquidation.

He said the association is currently in the process of engaging lawyers to investigate the matter, to determine who bought TEBA bank so that whoever bought the bank pays the investors as they believe who ever bought the bank should be liable to ensure that ex miners recover what they invested.

“We also want to establish if TEBA bank was insured so that the insurance can pay the money TEBA bank failed to pay,” he said.

Mantsi said the association had received several reports of people struggling to get what is due to them and they are currently working on four cases.

In an interview, TEBA Lesotho’s Regional Manager Samuel Moeletsi said the investment certificates were issued by Ubank in South Africa when it was still TEBA Bank.

He clarified that Ubank or TEBA bank are not in any way associated with TEBA- Lesotho. This, he said, is because while the bank deals with miners’ money, TEBA-Lesotho operates independently and is not involved in mine workers’ payment when they leave mines.

“When mine workers leave mines, TEBA is not in anyway involved in who is being paid, how much is to be paid, how it is paid and how it is invested. This is something mineworkers do with banks on their own, independent of TEBA.

“When they leave the mines, we are not there to witness what is being paid by their employers. Perhaps as a high level information, it is important to note that TEBA recruits for mines in South Africa, does tracing and documentation on behalf of different  member funds in South Africa but do not sit in the meetings when claims are reviewed, finalised and subsequently paid,” he said.

He further noted that TEBA provides home-based care and routine follow-up on terminal repatriates.

“Regarding the questions you are asking about investments, delays, why not paid, etc, we do not know. However, we can always check with relevant members’ mines to find out what is happening,” Moeletsi said.

He advised the beneficiaries to either visit the nearest TEBA office in Lesotho or to lodge their complaints to Ubank branch in South Africa.

Mantsi said his office is ready assist.

He said TEBA is a service provider that assist families of deceased mineworkers to claim their monies from different members’ funds or mines in South Africa through a process called tracing and document collation.

“The decision to pay is made independent of TEBA. We merely facilitate the payment after decision has been taken by relevant funds and mines,” he said.