| I |
f you are a high school dropout or someone not so smart who lost their money to Simon Thebe-ea-Khale’s thieving scheme called MKM, then Scrutator’s heart bleeds for you.
What happened to you was unjust.
It was wrong for Thebe-ea-Khale to prey on your ignorance.
But if you are a judge, a politician or anyone who claims to be sophisticated and you lost your money to Thebe-ea-Khale then you got what you deserved.
Yes, you heard me right, you got what you deserved.
Scrutator will not shed a tear for such people for they knowingly gambled with their monies.
They played poker with their monies and they lost.
For years Scrutator has been trying to understand why anyone who completed high school, even someone who failed it, would be so naïve as to be hoodwinked by an individual like Thebe-ea-Khale.
It has always boggled her mind why people like judges, lecturers, teachers, politicians or civil servants, etc, could be tricked into investing their money with a man who certainly knows zilch about investment.
Answers to that puzzle have been elusive.
People can’t be that daft, so Scrutator thought.
Then this week it suddenly dawned on Scrutator that it’s not Thebe-ea-Khale who tricked these people.
She realised that sometimes we give Thebe-ea-Khale undue credit for something he could not have possibly managed to pull off.
What actually happened is that the smart people in this country knew that MKM was a wretched pyramid scheme that was bound to collapse sooner or later.
They also knew there was no chance that Thebe-ea-Khale could find a business that could give him a 60 percent return on investment.
So why did they give him his money, you may be asking.
Well, they thought they could beat the slot machine at the casino.
They thought they could play the game and pull out before the scheme collapsed.
Greed got the better of their judgment.
Any prominent or smart person who lost their money to Thabe-ea-Khale must not cry for they knew they were playing poker.
The sad part is that even if they scream or cry crimson tears Thebe-ea-Khale will not be able to give them back their money because he gave it to those people who invested earlier.
That’s what happens in a pyramid scheme: the early birds get the fattest worms while those who come late get little or nothing at all.
| T |
hose who lost their money lost it in a thieving game they thought they knew how to play.
Otherwise why else would you invest your money with a person who does not know the difference between a money market and a stock market and expect to get it back with interest?
Why else would anyone with anything substantial between their ears give money to a simple man and still expect to get a 60 percent investment on their investment?
What happened in MKM was poetic justice: smart people tried to take advantage of a plain businessman and they were outwitted.
Scrutator is aware that there are some people who will raise hell over her comments but she will not take back those words.
In fact she is tempted to believe that any person who passed high school but invested in MKM should be arrested for conniving to steal from the poor.
The precedence is there.
If you assist a bank robber you would have committed a crime.
If you buy stolen goods you will be prosecuted together with the thief.
The same applies if you run a business that sells stolen goods.
There are many examples but hopefully the ones mentioned here are enough for you to understand the logic.
The same should happen if you knowingly benefited or attempted to benefit from a criminal business entity like MKM’s pyramid scheme.
Remember the courts have already ruled that MKM was an illegal business scheme.
| T |
here is no way that the so-called smart or educated people in this country could have possibly believed that Thebe-ea-Khale could work magic with their monies and produce those super profits.
If you think Scrutator is being malicious try the following exercise at home.
When your primary school child, nephew or cousin comes back from school ask them if they can lend you M10 from their pocket money.
Tell them that you give it back to them as M20.
I can bet you my last penny that the kid will look you straight in the face and tell you that there is no way that money can grow so easy and so fast.
If they tell you that, as I am dead sure they will, ask them why they can’t believe your offer.
The kid will tell you that in all their mathematics books they have never come across a sum that asks them to calculate a 100 percent profit.
Remember this math problem from primary school: “John bought a bicycle for M100 and sold it Peter for M105. How much profit did John make?”
They will tell you that all their examples end at 20 percent profit.
They will probably think you are trying to play a trick on them.
If kids know that a 60 percent profit is outrageous then what of bearded and breasted adults?
After the exercise please remember to tell the kid that you were only joking lest they start doubting your sanity.
| B |
efore I close this matter let me make it clear that in saying all this I have not forgotten the treachery and incompetence of the central bank.
They stood by, arms akimbo, while Thebe-ea-Khale played lotto with people’s monies.
How could a company amass half a billion maloti from criminal activities without the central bank noticing?
The central bank, especially the surveillance department, slept on the job and they must accept the blame.
It’s telling that it took Metropolitan, a private company, to realise that what was happening at MKM was criminal.
It was only then that the central bank started scrambling for solutions but by that time MKM had been operating for years and millions had been lost.
I need not remind you, dear reader, that when all this was happening we had a functioning government in this country.
Eish!
