The board of the plush Simbithi Eco Estate, north of Durban, is scrambling to recover nearly R700,000 missing from its coffers following an alleged wedding fraud scheme.
The embezzlement scandal that has rocked the estate, broke days before a leading KwaZulu-Natal wedding planner took her own life.
Management of the 430ha estate, one of the most sought-after in the country and second in prestige only to Zimbali on the North Coast, has moved to allay the fears of homeowners that hundreds of thousands of rands from weddings held at the lavish clubhouse will not be seen again.
And almost a year after the deposits for the ceremonies were discovered to be missing, the estate's board is still devising a way to recover the cash.Wedding planner Alexis Pitt, whose career spanned more than 15 years and included managing the nuptials of Sharks star rugby player Kyle Cooper, killed herself in October last year.
Last week the Simbithi board sent a pointed letter to homeowners suggesting that Pitt had pocketed R688,441.
Pitt's family found out she was the prime suspect in the scandal only when the communiqué was issued.
The letter, a copy of which was leaked to the Sunday Times, detailed the "financial impairment" incurred by the estate.
"During October 2016, it became evident that the contractor [Pitt], appointed to manage weddings at Simbithi Country Club, had been receiving deposits from clients in respect of weddings to be held at the club, and depositing these monies into her personal bank account," the letter said.
"A few days after the contractor was confronted, she tragically committed suicide. The contractor's actions resulted in a loss to the Country Club of R688,441."
The cost of an average wedding at the club was R60,000.
An investigation into the missing money spanned months and was "complicated", according to the board, by the absence of key documents and poor record-keeping.
"[The board] is still pursuing every possible avenue to recover the funds," said the board.
A source close to Pitt, a family member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that her reasons for taking her own life remained unknown to the family.
The source said Pitt had a meeting with a senior estate employee, who "gave her a hard time".
Days later she took her husband's gun and killed herself while sitting in her car on the beachfront.
The relative said the family had never been told of the probe, nor that Pitt had been accused of wrongdoing by the estate.
"It had always been in her contract that she would be paid by the client, and then, before the wedding took place, she would pay Simbithi. It worked like that for two years without incident," her relative said. "We heard that they wanted to change her contract and that would have sunk her business. We always thought that that could have been why she killed herself."..