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Johannesburg - Ten people have been arrested for violating the National Credit Act (NCA) in Mpumalanga, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) said on Friday.
"In a bid to stem the abuse of consumers by lenders and ensure compliance with the NCA, the NCR and [police] conducted joint on-site investigations, in an operation in Mpumalanga," the regulator said in a statement.
The NCR and police in Middelburg, Barberton, Nelspruit, and Witbank investigated 37 lenders this week and arrested 10 people who contravened the NCA. The operation and arrests took place between Monday and Thursday.
NCR CEO Nomsa Motshegare said the focus was mainly on credit providers lending recklessly, illegally serving notice on those they lent money to, and taking clients' pension cards, ID documents, and bank cards as surety.
"This is a contravention of the National Credit Act and it is a criminal offence", she said.
Part of the NCR's strategy was ensuring all credit providers complied with the NCR.
"The exploitation of vulnerable and unsuspecting consumers by credit providers will not be tolerated," said Motshegare.
From the 10 arrests, nine criminal cases were opened. Those arrested were found in possession of 851 ID books, 921 bank cards, six passports, two driver's licences, and 44 cellphones.
"This operation was definitely not the last of its kind. Such operations are conducted nationally in different parts of the country," she said.
"Credit providers should be warned that the NCR will not condone any contraventions by credit providers."
The NCR had already conducted similar operations in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, North West, Limpopo, and Northern Cape.
From those operations, 4565 bank cards, 6691 pension cards, and 681 ID documents were recovered.
A total of 76 people were arrested, with 64 criminal cases opened.
