☕ The Finance Brew: South Africa’s R10 ID Fee Fiasco

Author

Elly Ngoma
July 02, 2025

South Africa’s R10 ID Fee Fiasco

Your no-nonsense explainer of the banking drama shaking South Africa

⚡️ TL;DR

South Africa’s Home Affairs Dept (DHA) jacked up ID verification fees from 15 cents to R10 per check (yes, a 6,567% hike 😳). Digital bank TymeBank threw hands, calling it a “tax on the poor.” Now, banks, telcos, and small biz are in a standoff. Let’s unpack ↓

🎭 The Cast

  • TymeBank: SA’s fastest-growing digital bank (11M+ users). Think “banking app without branches.”

  • DHA: The govt department managing IDs (aka the gatekeeper of your official “who are you?”).

  • Incumbent Banks: Traditional players (like Capitec) who quietly backed the fee hike 🥷.

🔥 Why Everyone’s Upset

DHA’s Move:

“Hey banks, verifying IDs via our system now costs R10 (was R0.15). K, thanks!”

TymeBank’s Reaction:

“Bro, this nukes financial inclusion. Our low-income users can’t absorb this!”

The Math:

  • TymeBank does 110K+ real-time checks/month.

  • Old cost: ~R16.5K → New cost: R1.1M/month. 💸

🎯 Why TymeBank Got Hit Hardest

  1. Digital-Only Model: Needs real-time checks for instant sign-ups (no batch processing hack).

  2. User Base: 48% earn <$200/month. Adding fees = locking them out.

  3. Competition Suspicion: Rivals cough Capitec cough endorsed the hike. Coincidence? 👀

🌍 Ripple Effects

  • SMEs: Digital KYC just got pricier for small biz.

  • Financial Inclusion: 13% of TymeBank users are first-time bank customers. At risk.

  • The Irony: DHA claims this fights money laundering… by making banking harder for legit users. 🤷

TymeBank’s demands:

  1. Freeze the fee.

  2. Tie pricing to DHA’s system performance (if it crashes 50% of the time, why pay R10?).

  3. Subsidies for inclusion-focused banks.

Precedent Alert: Courts reversed similar fee hikes before (Oilwell v Protec, 2011).

🧠 Why This Matters to You

  • If you’re a bank: Your compliance costs just mooned.

  • If you’re a customer: Fees might creep into your accounts.

  • If you’re human: It’s about who pays for broken govt systems. Spoiler: Not the fraudsters.

“This isn’t policy—it’s economic sabotage of the poor.”
— Coen Jonker, TymeBank CEO

🔮 What’s Next

If DHA wins:

  • Digital banks bleed cash → fees rise → low-income users exit.
    If TymeBank wins:

  • SA could model India’s free Aadhaar system (drove 500M+ bank accounts).

🚨 Bottom Line

DHA picked a fight with the wrong disruptor. TymeBank’s lawsuit could redefine how Africa balances regulation & inclusion. Watch this space.

SOURCES:
[1] TymeBank’s open letter | [2] DHA’s fee notice | [3] SA’s inclusion crisis

Made clearer than DHA’s fee policy.
Forward to a friend who’s tired of paying for bureaucracy. 🇿🇦✊