The Rally will be preceded by a march to demand a general amnesty for workers and poor blacklisted by the credit bureaux.
Through the TRC process we have provided amnesty to apartheid-era murderers and torturers. Our government has given amnesty to the rich who had illegally smuggled tens of millions of rands in wealth offshore. If all of these things are possible, then it is both possible and essential that we give amnesty to the workers and the poor of our country who are the blacklisted victims of faceless credit bureaux.
We see this not as a sentimental gesture but as a conscious act to pave the way for the new National Credit legislation currently tabled in parliament as a bill. The new credit bill requires credit bureaux to provide consumers with their own personal credit profiles free of charge and to verify all information they sell. This is the least credit bureaux should do.
Credit bureaux and their industry associations seem to think it is no problem that more than two million borrowers are blacklisted and cannot access credit. This blacklisting affects not just those directly blacklisted, but their families and dependents as well. It is possible that some 10 million South Africans, a quarter of our population, are affected. This is clearly a national crisis and we call on government to intervene on the side of the poor. In the past decade, government's scheme to extend credit, especially micro-loans, to the poor has generally failed. This has led to the emergence of an extensive and unscrupulous micro-lending industry, with micro-lenders charging exorbitant and unlimited interest.
Practices of this kind have left millions of poor borrowers caught in debt traps and blacklisted by credit bureaux. We fully support government's commitment to adopting a new credit policy and to implementing laws that will remedy these shortcomings.
Government's own research shows that in a system where over R360bn is provided in credit every year, the poor pay far more in interest than the rich, making repayments difficult and credit blacklisting all too easy. The lowest income earners pay an average of 175% in interest a year for credit, while the highest income earners pay only 26%.
South Africans pay more than 360% a year in interest on unregistered micro-loans. It is no wonder that millions of our people are caught in debt spirals and end up blacklisted. It is time to wipe the slate clean and close this chapter of massive exploitation of the poor.
For details contact:
Kaizer Mohau
Media Liaison Officer
South African Communist Party (SACP)
Tel: 011 339 3621/2,
Fax: 011 339 4244/6880
Cell: 082 805 1085
Email: Kaizer@sacp.org.za ,
Website: www.sacp.org.za
For Comment contact:
Solly Mapaila
National Organiser
South African Communist Party (SACP)
Cell: 082 886 3526,
Email: solly@sacp.org.za