“Understanding that money might be an issue, [we thought] maybe if we form this group, in the unfortunate event that one of us loses a family member, we can take some of the money we have contributed and give it to them, and that will go a long way in assisting.”

He said so far, they had contributed R4,000 each to two families who suffered bereavements.

“It is not a lot of money but it helped because there is a lot that needs to be done when there is a funeral. When we realised we had a lot of money and funerals do not occur too often, we decided to take road trips and contribute towards weddings.

“As we evolved, we started contributing more money and we started going on annual road trips. Eventually we decided that we were wasting too much money on road trips.

“We decided to turn to investment so that our children could also benefit. All of us [members] are parents and we needed to think about the future. Just before the lockdown in 2020, we decided to buy a piece of land. We bought two hectares of land in the rural outskirts of Limpopo in Ga-Mashashane.

“We plan to build commercial properties in future. Even if those properties are not built next year or in the next two years but in 20 years, if we have something that generates an income for us, we can pass it on to our children who can carry on with the legacy,” said Ledwaba.

He said at the moment, the stokvel was looking at getting into farming while they raised money to build properties.

He said members of the stokvel were all men aged between 29 to 32. They contribute R1,000 a month and meet several times a year.

Ledwaba said they took their stokvel seriously and anyone wishing to join had to go through an interview. “Many people have failed the interview. People who want to join the stokvel must be serious and goal-orientated,” said Ledwaba.

He said their joining fee was determined by how much investment the stokvel had.