Banks can't be trusted to pay social grants – ANCWL

The African National Congress Women's League has come out strongly against outsourcing the payment of social grants to any of the country’s major banks.

Banks and the Post Office have been suggested as a potential solution to the payment of grants after the expiry of the contract with Cash Paymaster Services at the end of March.

The courts have ruled that the tender awarded to Cash Paymaster Services by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) was unlawful.

In a strongly worded statement the women’s league rejected any proposal to outsource the payments to major banks‚ saying that they could not be trusted.

“The major commercial banks in South Africa have proven their untrustworthiness and greediness through various unethical behaviours which amongst others has been reported by the Competition Commission‚” said the league.

The Competition Commission on Wednesday recommended that the Competition Tribunal punish several local and foreign-owned banks operating in South Africa for price-fixing of the rand.

If the tribunal agrees‚ the banks face a fine of up to 10% of their annual turnover.