Johannesburg - Today's launch of the Mzansi account will give affordable access to the formal banking system to all South Africans for the first time.
Ten years in the planning, the national bank account hopes to bring the more than 13 million citizens without bank accounts into the banking mainstream.
But the birth of South Africa's latest sociopolitical darling has not been an easy one. The past few months, especially, have been painful with labour union and political party unhappiness threatening to thwart the initiative.
Cosatu and the SA Communist Party, believing they had been sidelined in discussions on the financial sector charter, threatened to boycott the financial services sector, withholding support for the Mzansi initiative.
They have since expressed their support after finance minister Trevor Manuel intervened and gave them three seats each on the charter council in September.
The banks were also forced to go back to the drawing board after Manuel indicated that he would not back their plans to collude on the pricing of the account.
"We are really pleased to have got here," Charles Chemel, the access initiatives co-ordinator at the Banking Council, said at the weekend.
The Banking Council, which was vital in getting Mzansi off the ground, believes its work is done.
Chemel said it had handed the baton over to the banks, who take up the challenge from today.
Regarded a watershed in the banking industry's transformation, participating banks have promised to provide their potential new clients with access to core banking services for about half of the cost of existing products.
Targeting low-income customers, seasonal labourers and the poor - who have been collectively labelled as the unbanked - Mzansi signals the industry's progress towards providing services to all South Africans regardless of what they earn.
Banks were, however, not expecting hundreds of thousands of new customers on day one, said Chemel. The banks, which are pricing their Mzansi accounts independently, say they will not be making a profit, but they do not expect to lose either.
Mzansi will be offered by Absa, First National Bank, Nedbank, Standard Bank, Postbank and the Eastern Cape's Meeg Bank, which have agreed to provide Mzansi customers with basic deposit, withdrawal and debit card services for a start.
"Over the next six months all parties will examine ways to further enhance offerings to meet target market needs," the Banking Council said last week. Home loans, personal loans and insurance are among the products being considered.
Until now, those who earned R5 000 or less a month have effectively been locked out of the formal banking system, because banking has simply been too expensive.