The organisation says desperate South Africans, who struggle to put food on the table, end up borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates to survive, while other people are forced to buy groceries on credit at local tuck shops.
They opt to borrow from loan sharks as they do not qualify for long-term loans at commercial banks.
One of the SASSA grant recipients whose cards are being held by grocery creditors is Kedibonye Marumodichabe from Tshidilamolomo Village in North West province.
She receives a child support grant for her five children. However, she has not been getting this grant for almost two years as the SASSA cards are at the local tuck shop, serving as surety for her grocery credit.
“I went to them last year to get food on credit and they said I must first bring my ID and SASSA cards. They took my PIN as well as my ID. I don’t get anything from my child grants. If I need to use my ID, I go to them and they make a copy for me.”
Research conducted by Black Sash indicated that desperate South Africans, who struggle to put food on the table, end up borrowing money at exorbitant interest rates to survive. They say many of those taking credit are grant recipients who do not qualify for credit at formal lenders.
Black Sash National Helpline Manager Kgothatso Sibanda explains, “In the recent research study that we did, a person would borrow from the child support grant, which is R530 ($29,68) and the person would borrow something, for example, an additional R500 ($28). The interest rate becomes R250 ($14) so now they have to pay R750 ($42,01). The loan sharks will obviously keep their bank cards and their identity documents, which is illegal. But for them, it’s a form of security so that these people pay back their money.”
Tuck shop owners did not want to reveal their names to the state broadcaster, but say they are adamant that taking bank and ID cards is the only guarantee to getting paid.
“They come to us for credit. We give them credit and they run away. We no longer take cards and do not take credit otherwise we’re losing.”
“Some people just come with bank cards so maybe at the end of the month he leaves the card, goes to town, and makes a new card. So, when I take their ID card it’s supposed to be that he pays me and takes his card and ID,” a tuck shop owner explains.
--SABC--
