Stokvel de luxe the hottest ticket in town

Expensive whisky, champagne and wine flow in the smoked-filled VIP section of the restaurant.

It's Monday night and members of an exclusive stokvel are gathering for their weekly get-together.

Among the group of high flyers are deputy ministers, MECs, professional soccer stars, company executives and government officials.

The venue is De Grandiose restaurant and bar, a trendy restaurant in Wynberg, Sandton. Luxury German sedans and SUVs line up on the Old Pretoria Road.

The 120 guests feast on traditional African cuisine - pap and samp and beans served with a choice of mogodu (tripe), ox lung and chicken feet, among other dishes.

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They keenly await the arrival of their don, cigar-smoking Mike Maile, a politically connected businessman and ANC activist who lists ANC Gauteng chairman Paul Mashatile as one of his best friends.

Once labelled the Alex Mafia (Maile and Mashatile hail from Alexandra) the two were part of a group accused of milking the provincial coffers while Maile was a senior public servant. They were cleared by the Gauteng integrity commission.

Maile has since left public service and embarked on business ventures, including De Grandiose.

As soon as Maile walks in to the bar with his cigar in hand, his guests move to the VIP section known as "Mike's corner".

The gathering is not a political meeting. Nor is it a meeting to dish out government tenders.

Maile, or "The Professor" as he is known in ANC circles, convenes a meeting of "Stokvel se Grand," which was formed just seven weeks ago.

It's a collective savings club that counts among its members prominent figures such as Deputy Minister in the Presidency Buti Manamela and Gauteng economic development MEC Lebogang Maile, along with soccer players from the Premier Soccer League and high-ranking executives in the public and private sectors.

Each member contributes R500 per week into the club's bank account - which amounts to collective savings of R240,000 a month or more than R2.8-million a year.

We need to get into the stock exchange and we see this as a vehicle of achieving that                            

The aim, Maile said, was to encourage a culture of long-term saving in the black community - with the goal of amassing enough capital to invest in the stock market.

Stokvel se Grand is part of a South African stokvel market that is said to comprise more than 800,000 clubs with an estimated value of about R45-billion.

The majority of stokvels have been criticised for being consumption driven, many saving for holiday travel, bulk grocery shopping for the December festivities or funerals. Maile said the aim was to update this attitude.

"Our thinking is that if you invest and re-invest this money properly you can end up with a fund that's worth millions in a short space of time, three to five years," said Maile.

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Stokvel se Grand members are presented with three options. Th e first option allows members, at the end of the 12-month saving cycle, to take their savings and spoil themselves. The second is to donate to the poor or charity organisations.

The third, "the one we encourage them to take, is the one that says reinvest. If you reinvest that money we put it in an investment stock and we'll get investment gurus to advise as to where it must be placed.

"The aim is to encourage the culture of saving but to also encourage black people to play in the mainstream economy.

"For us this is about economic transformation and empowerment. This is about creating generational wealth, which is what we need as black South Africans.

"We need to get into the stock exchange and we see this as a vehicle of achieving that," said Maile.

He said Stokvel se Grand was not just about alcohol consumption or having a good time.

"We were able to create a product that brings together people from both ends of the economy and bring them into one.

"This is not only about the drinking, in fact more than anything we see this as a networking forum."

And as night fades away, the party continues for members of Stokvel se Grand, another R60,000 in the bank.

mokoneth@sundaytimes.co.za