Vulnerable Sassa grant beneficiaries targeted by loan sharks: 'It's rampant'
This is according to a report titled Collaborations to Curb Indebtedness, which seeks to highlight this urgent issue and address the problem of involuntary indebtedness among welfare grant recipients.
Picture: Barbara Maregele/GroundUp
Clarence Ford interviews Odwa Nweba from the Stellenbosch University Law Clinic.
Listen below.
Social grant beneficiaries, particularly the elderly and single mothers, are increasingly targeted by unregistered lenders – often referred to as loan sharks, mashonisas, or skoppers – who exploit state social grants as collateral for high-interest loans.
To make matters worse, these unscrupulous lenders operate without any legal regulation.
This is according to a report titled Collaborations to Curb Indebtedness, which seeks to highlight this urgent issue and address the problem of involuntary indebtedness among welfare grant recipients.
"We found that this was quite a rampant thing – in most of societies that we visited, most of the people were borrowing from informal lenders."
- Odwa Nweba, Stellenbosch University Law Clinic
Nweba, one of the authors of the report, explains how it aims to provide training for community leaders, lay advisors and community paralegals.
Through collaborative workshops, it seeks to enhance knowledge and identify practical solutions to protect vulnerable individuals from these predatory lending practices.
"We need more collaboration between the different departments."
- Odwa Nweba, Stellenbosch University Law Clinic
Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.