NEWS ANALYSIS
ANN CROTTY: Allan Gray should put its ear to the ground
‘Researchers who do get out and talk to some of the 17-million recipients of social grants find there is a lot to be concerned about with Net1’s handling of the contract’
Perhaps researchers at Allan Gray, the country’s fourth-largest fund manager, need to get out of their ivory towers a bit more. Researchers who do get out and talk to some of the 17-million recipients of social grants find there is a lot to be concerned about with Net1’s handling of the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) contract. Transaction fees equivalent to an annualised 60% of the value of a loan are a common complaint and the seemingly permanent replacement of a recipient’s Sassa card with Net1’s EasyPay Everywhere card are some of the facts identified in a just-released report by the International Labour Research and Information Group (ILRIG). Much of the contents and conclusions of the ILRIG report support findings recently reported by researchers at advocacy group, the Black Sash. Nandi Vanqa-Mgijima, head of the ILRIG researchers, says the main question she is asked when she engages with grant recipients is how can they get rid of the EasyPay card. People with Ea...
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