Under fire technology group Net1 UEPS Technologies has appointed an independent ombudsman, advocate Neville Melville, to oversee dispute resolution regarding the company's financial services and value-added product sales through various subsidiaries in SA.
Net1 subsidiary Cash Paymaster Services (CPS) distributes 22 million monthly payments to more than 10 million social grant recipients.
It has been under fire for alleged profiteering during its invalid contract with the South African Social Security Agency for the period 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2017.
CPS also faced allegations it authorised deductions on beneficiaries' accounts before their social grants were paid out. Net1 has refuted these claims, saying its subsidiary does not share any personal beneficiary data with its other subsidiaries, or sell financial services and products to recipients.
Shareholders were up in arms after Net1 stated it will pay outgoing-CEO Serge Belamant $8 million (R105 million) for leaving the company, a figure major shareholder Allan Gray says it noted "with outrage".
In a statement issued yesterday, Net1 says Melville is uniquely experienced in the dispute resolution field, having been appointed as a functionary of the National Peace Accord in turbulent KwaZulu-Natal in the run up to SA's first democratic election.
He then established the Independent Complaints Directorate (now IPID) under the Mandela administration before becoming the banking ombudsman, in which capacity he served for seven years.
Thereafter, he assisted various ombudsman offices in SA and other African countries with setting up their offices, training their staff members, compiling manuals, reviewing their processes and conducting research.
For the last four years, he has headed the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud scheme, which is accredited under statute. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (London).
The services provided by the ombudsman will include receiving complaints from the company's customers, including social grant recipients, seeking any outstanding information necessary for a decision and settling the complaints by way of conciliation, mediation, fact finding or decision binding upon the company.
The ombudsman will function independently from the company's established query and dispute resolution process.
Melville will commence with his activities with immediate effect and will attend a community meeting as an independent observer in the Western Cape, together with representatives from the company and Grindrod Bank, relating to complaints raised by social grant recipients.
The company expects to publish the ombudsman's terms of reference, reporting obligations, contact details and a customer service charter before the end of June.
"We are delighted advocate Melville has agreed to establish the ombud function," says Herman Kotze, CEO of Net1. "We are aware of persistent public complaints about the functioning of our call centre and dispute resolution process, which we have been unable to verify despite our best efforts.
"We are committed to providing our customers with outstanding service and we are confident Neville's vast experience will assist us in achieving our goals, while providing independent oversight and reporting," he concludes.
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