Olefile Moea, Executive Director, Fairheads Benefit Services

Fairheads has a stand-alone tracing company which provides services to external parties, as well as tracing beneficiaries and members of our own sponsored umbrella trust and beneficiary fund.

Here are two recent success stories:

Case study I

Nokwanda and Nokukhanya lost their father at a very young age. The guardian was their mother who also passed away shortly after her husband, the late member. After their parents had passed away, the children lived with their grandparents. Years later, the grandfather decided to sell the house and move to the Eastern Cape. Nokwanda and Nokukhanya were taken to another family from the mother’s side, and that is when things got worse. They did not have school uniforms, nor many clothes, and so they used to go to the orphanage where they could get used uniforms and clothes. After school they walked from home to the orphanage so that they could get something to eat.

Fairheads started tracing them in 2022 when the trust sub-account was transferred to Fairheads. The sisters did not know they had money in trust. Both Nokwanda and Nokukhanya are now majors but have elected to retain their benefit in the trust. Their plan is to build a house and have a place they can finally call home.

Case study II

On a recent trip to Rustenburg, the Fairheads field agent team visited the last known address of a client we had not had contact with for a while. Upon their arrival, they were met by a neighbour who shared a heartbreaking tale about the beneficiary and his guardian. They had been chased out by the deceased’s family and were residing in an informal settlement.

The neighbour kindly offered to take the field agents to the beneficiary and guardian, and they were fortunate enough to find them. Their relief and gratitude upon the field agents’ arrival were palpable, as they had felt abandoned during this challenging time. They recounted how they had been forced out of home after the deceased passed away, and the struggles they had faced since. The guardian had lost her phone and her documents had been taken, making it impossible for her to access the payments Fairheads had been making..

The Fairheads field agents provided the beneficiary and guardian with information on the process to access the funds. They were incredibly thankful that we had reached out when they felt hopeless.

ENDS