The chase is on to apprehend those with hard cash stolen during the civil unrest last month.
Tallying up the costs of the looting spree between July 9 and 17, SA Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric) CEO Nischal Mewalall said: “There is great concern over the impact of intelligence failures and the state’s response to the eight consecutive days of civil unrest that resulted in unprecedented destruction of banking infrastructure in South Africa.”
Sabric said 1,227 ATMs and 310 bank branches were vandalised or destroyed in the unrest.
Of the ATMs, 256 were broken into using force and 36 physically stolen from their sites, which have not yet been recovered. In addition, 82 in-branch safes were breached.
Cash stolen from ATMs and bank branches totalled R119.4m. This amount excludes infrastructure damage and replacement costs.