Financial empowerment for the people

Trustee and CEO Natalie-Ann Powell told Sandton Chronicle about their experiences in the past year.

According to Powell, the trust assisted over 400 clients to resolve their debts and has set them on the road to true financial freedom.

“One thousand eight hundred individuals attended our financial intelligence training this year and took a significant step towards owning their financial futures,” said Powell.

“We still encounter growing numbers of illegal and unethical Emoluments Attachment Orders that employers are also burdened with when their staff are financially disabled by these incorrectly calculated, and quite frankly, abusive orders,” she added.

Powell noted that the lack of employer knowledge on how to address or identify incorrect deductions is still frighteningly low, but they hope that continuing seminars with Accsys Payroll Solutions on the legal minefield of these challenges is slowly making an impact.

“This has of course been a difficult year for all organisations that rely on donor funds to support education and/or rehabilitation efforts and some of the programmes we support have had a difficult time, but we are always grateful for the occasions where we can see that we have made an impact, and we hold onto those to keep us enthusiastic.”

“If we could make a pie-in-the-sky wish, it would be for additional legal support in our efforts to gain justice for our members and to take action against those abusive collectors that profit illegally from the misery of others. Either that or gifts for those responsible, committed members who have worked hard this year to dig themselves out of holes they fell into out of desperation or lack of information. Money is just paper after all, but smiles and joy are the real stuff of life,” added Powell.

With the promise of a new online system going live in 2014, Vuka hopes to expand their reach across the country, especially to small employer groups and stokvels, to ensure they are receiving the proper support.