Illegal SASSA Deductions: DA to refer matter to FSB and NCR for investigation
15 September 2016
The DA has today written to both the Financial Services Board (FSB) and the National Credit Regulator (NCR) to request both entities to investigate the unfair advantage which the electronic payments company Net1, as well as its associate Grindrod Bank and their subsidiaries enjoy in South Africa’s social grant funding structure, at the expense of the poor and vulnerable.
The entities prey on their database of between 16 and 19 million social grant beneficiaries – possessed only by Net1 and consequently Grindrod Bank – through the social grant distribution company, Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), by issuing beneficiaries loans and supplementary services such as funeral policies they cannot afford, and making them vulnerable to illegal debit orders and deductions due to bank errors.
In February this year, the DA requested that the Competition Commission investigate this matter. However, after assessing the request, the Commission put forward the view that the matter should be referred to the NCR to deal with the aspect of the complaint relating to personal loans, and the FSB to deal with the part relating to funeral policies.
This is a great injustice upon the poor, who already have limited funds to meet their basic needs. It is of utmost importance that this matter is therefore probed by the FSB and the NCR and appropriate action taken.