Johannesburg - Net 1 UEPS Technologies on Friday came close to calling on the SA Social Agency (Sassa) to institute criminal charges against 1 300 financial service providers, which had deducted monies from social grant recipients.
The company’s share price dropped 2.61 percent on Friday to close at R150. This comes after Sassa laid criminal charges against Grindrod Bank and Cash Paymaster Services (CPS), which are responsible for the distribution of social grants to 16 million beneficiaries monthly.
CPS is a Net 1 subsidiary, while Grindrod provides financial services for the company. Sassa accused them of failing to comply with the newly amended regulations as contained in the Social Assistance Act, which prohibits financial services contracted to pay out social grants from deducting monies from bank accounts held by social grant beneficiaries.
Sassa’s decision to file for criminal charges comes after Net 1 filed for a declaratory order from the High Court for clarity on the interpretation of the new regulations.
“The company (Net 1) has already been joined in its application by several other industry participants,” Net 1 said.
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