Deputy Speaker, the National Credit Act, No 34 of 2005, was passed by Parliament, among other things, to regulate the manner in which credit is extended by credit providers. It provides for the monitoring of credit and credit marketing practices, as well as the investigation of unfair practices, and allows for the referral of unscrupulous practices to the National Consumer Tribunal, NCT.
The National Credit Regulator, NCR, which operates under the aegis of the Department of Trade and Industry, was established, among other things, to enforce the National Credit Act, NCA, and to take action against contravening credit providers. The NCR has enhanced its focus on enforcement and has been conducting proactive investigations into the activities of credit providers in the moneylending industry.
The primary focus of these investigations is to uncover illegal and undesirable practices. These include, for example, the charging of excessive interest and associated costs of credit, and the failure to conduct proper affordability assessments. Where evidence is found of such practices, appropriate enforcement action is taken in accordance with the Act without fear or favour.
Further, the NCR will apply to the NCT for orders to refund consumers who might have been overcharged, as well as seeking the possible deregistration of credit providers or other suitable punitive orders that the NCT is empowered to enforce in terms of the Act. Such refund orders will be preceded by an audit at the expense of the credit provider, to determine the full extent of overcharging.
With regard to the second part of the question, the NCR as the regulator of the credit industry does not at this point in time possess evidence to point to a direct correlation between wages that are not related to the cost of living, unsecured lending and labour unrest. But I should say that there are considerable amounts of anecdotal evidence suggesting that large parts of the wage incomes, including wages of workers on strike in various circumstances, are absorbed by servicing unsecured loans provided largely for consumption purposes.
As hon members may recall, a little while ago we held a press conference in regard to the fact that the NCR had been to Marikana and had found that there were 12 credit providers operating in that small community, 10 of which were in one way or another noncompliant with the provisions of the NCA. Thank you.