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The Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) has learned with utter dismay how one of South Africa’s leading financial providers has been discriminating against black clients, subjecting them to higher charges than their white counterparts.

PPF President Kashif Wicomb says: “The PPF urgently calls upon the Competition Commission to thoroughly investigate this matter and enforce appropriate punitive measures against all financial service providers engaging in such erratic practices. Unfortunately, these allegations are not unheard of, and it is disheartening that concrete actions have not been taken in the past to rectify such issues."

According to a report published by a Sunday newspaper, a former employee of Wesbank, who worked as a consultant in the IT department between 2014 and 2018, alleges that a specific system was intentionally designed to overcharge black clients by imposing elevated interest rates. The former employee contends that this discriminatory practice led to black clients being burdened with interest rates as high as 18%, in stark contrast to their white counterparts who were charged a lower rate of 10%.

The PPF condemns this erratic behaviour in the strongest terms as it not only compromises the principles of fairness and equality but also erodes public trust in financial institutions. Discrimination has no place in our society, and the PPF stands firm in being a watchdog against any attempts to undermine democracy and equality.

“As the organization representing the country’s professionals, academics, intellectuals and patriotic entrepreneurs we shall stand firm to defend the democratic gains brought about by our Government working with the people of South Africa and other partners.  Our call to WesBank is to come clean and be completely transparent during the investigation into these allegations including taking immediate corrective actions” says Kashif Wicomb

The PPF as a non-racial, non-sexist organisation of progressive professionals remains vigilant in its pursuit of justice and fairness, and further calls for the Competition Commission and all the relevant authorities to act swiftly to get to the bottom of this troubling situation.

Issued by Progressive Professionals Forum