Financial education is important in people’s lives. The effects of lack of financial education are seen as people inherit vast amounts of money but lose all of it. In a revealing episode of Mzansi Magic’s I Blew It show, Thabile Ntuli inherited millions of cash and assets after her father’s death, only to blow it in a few years.
Thandile narrated her story, “I come from Emdeni. I inherited my father’s savings, investments and businesses. I had a nickname; they called me ‘Madam’. I didn’t care because it was my time to shine.
Thandile used some of the money to furnish her house. “I bought myself a bedroom suite for R8,500 and a queen-sized bed for R4,000. I wanted to have quality time. I spent R14,000 on chairs. The chairs had the same colour as the bedroom suite,” she said.
Some of the money was spent on lavish parties such as birthday celebrations for her son. “I decided to do a birthday party for my one-year-old son, and I arranged a bus for my friends who lived in the same street as us. The venue was Ngwenyama Resort, and I spent R18,000 that day.” she narrated.
Thandile lost money in failed businesses as she was unable to manage them. “I bought a public phones container for R28,000 and took them to Naledi to start a business, but the business did not last.”
Despite inheriting his father’s three cars, Thandile thought It was a good idea to purchase cars. She lost a significant sum of money in such bad decisions.
Her inherited business collapsed as she could not cope with the violent nature of the public transport business. “I was running the business, and I told myself that I was in charge. The buses continued to run, and in 2002 I had to stop as taxi owners started harassing me. They poached our customers cutting off our revenue, and they changed our buses’ schedule. I ended up selling all the buses for peace and safety.”
After spending a lot of the savings, investments and proceeds from the sale of buses, Thandile’s cash ran out. “I started realising the money was running out, and it was not as much as it was at first. I was left with R50,000. I knew nothing about savings and investments, and I did not care about the future. When I was growing up, everything was taken care of,” she said.
Her mother narrated the story from his point of view. “After the funeral, Thabile got all her money. The money from all his bank accounts and investments totalled R2.5 million. Thabile’s father had a lot of money, and he had buses to transport scholars and three private cars. She continued to run the business, but she was failing. When her father was alive, the drivers were paid via bank transfers. She was failing to pay drivers, and they went to her house to protest. I knew her money was finished when she started asking for a lot of things. She would ask for money to buy groceries.” she said.
Her uncle was displeased by the way Thandile blew the money. “She inherited money that was in her dad’s bank account and ten buses. She also inherited the house they were living in. “After she got the money, she did not care about anyone. She was on top of the world. She was untouchable and did not want to talk to us. She was now called Mrs Money,” he said.
Nelly, her friend, said Thabile didn’t share the money with her relatives, and she blew it with friends and her boyfriend.
Watch the Episode of I Blew It below:
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