Burnt investors to sue church

2007-03-02 10:58

Grahamstown - Churchgoers in Grahamstown who were promised fantastic returns if they invested R1 200 back in 1999 have threatened to sue their pastors, Grocott's Mail reported on Thursday.

Members of Conquerors Through Christ Ministries got no profits, and their R1 200 each was also lost.

Eight years later, 10 disgruntled ex-church members were threatening legal action.

"Our pastors said we would get R360 000 in one year if we paid the church R1 200," said Baroetsana Daniels.

"We were told the money was going to be used to buy shares in a diamond mining company. We were told the money would accumulate interest. They said we could even pay the money in six monthly instalments of R200."

She said dozens of congregants borrowed money or took their savings to the church's treasurer Nceba Ngeju. After six months without news, the investors became concerned. Ngeju told them to be patient. Then came the bitter news.

"We were told that the interest rates had gone down and so had our investment," said Daniels.

The church explained that the money had been lost because the company could not find the diamonds it was hoping to mine.

"The pastors promised that they would raise the money to repay us," said Daniels. Despite constant badgering, the congregants said they got no answers and eventually left the church.

They heard recently from current church members that the diamond mine investment was a scam.

This prompted Daniels to mobilise nine other victims and confront Ngeju.

Daniels said Ngeju advised them to write to Reverend Jerome Ledwaba, who was the senior reverend in 1999, for answers.

The investors had no reply to their letter.

Now they say they will pursue a civil claim against the church.

"We believed them because they are people of the church, our pastors, Christians. We trusted them," said Daniels.

Ngeju referred queries to the church's spokesperson Pastor Thandi Mzizi.

He said the church cannot refund the members. "When you invest money you should expect some risks," said Mzizi. He said none of the investors was forced to invest. "It was voluntary and they are not the only ones who lost money. I also lost money and so did other members of the church."

Mzizi said the investment idea was started by the national branch of the church.

He would not comment on allegations that the investment scheme was a scam.

- SAPA