4 June 2001
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is pleased that the Campaign to Make Banks Serve the People, including demands for access to credit and the regulation of the notorious Credit Bureaus, is beginning to bear fruit.
During May, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) invited the public to take part in a public investigation into the Credit Bureaus. The Credit Bureau Association (CBA) followed this with its own announcement of a Draft Code for the self-regulation of Credit Bureaus. These developments prove the SACP correct that Credit Bureaus hold our country to ransom by denying access to credit for development. It is because of the Campaign to Make Banks Serve the People that the Credit Bureaus are now feeling the heat and proposing their own Draft Code, even though its far from adequate.
The SACP calls on the DTI to ensure maximum public participation in the investigation through public hearings and sufficient time for comments by the public. The SACP calls on all South Africans, in particular those who have been victims of practices by Credit Bureaus, to take part in this DTI investigation. The SACP calls for this investigation to also include the discussion of access to credit for socio-economic development and meeting basic needs as a right for all consumers.
The SACP does not believe that the Credit Bureaus can regulate themselves. Instead, through this investigation and recommendations therefrom,government must be appropriately empowered to effectively regulate Credit Bureaus through the following:
Currently, the 11 Credit Bureaus which exist in our country are a law unto themselves. They unilaterally collect information on the public, compile credit profiles and sell this information to credit grantors without any participation by those affected by these processes and decisions of credit grantors. Through this process many of our people are unfairly denied access to credit. Access to credit is crucial in the social and economic development of many communities in South Africa. By denying credit to those they unilaterally profile as un-creditworthy, the Credit Bureaus protect the interests of the credit grantors to maximise profits at the expense of under-development of our townships and rural areas.
The SACP condemns this unilateral collection and distribution of personal information on individual consumers by Credit Bureaus. The SACP believes that this collection and distribution of personal information is not in line with the rights to privacy and confidentiality enshrined in our country's constitution transparency. An appropriate mechanism to collect credit information on consumers must include informed participation and consent by affected consumers.
These are all matters which the DTI investigation must look into.
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara
Department of Media, Information and Publicity South African Communist Party
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Email: sacp1@wn.apc.org
Cell: 083 651 0271