The home affairs minister and TymeBank’s co-founder are involved in a public squabble over the price of a biometric check increasing from 15c to R10.
TymeBank argues that the poor will bear the brunt of the hike, as it cannot afford to absorb the cost.
This comes one week before the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) rolls out its upgraded National Population Register (NPR).
In an open letter, TymeBank co-founder Coenraad Jonker accused the department of forcing South Africa’s poor to pay to sustain the register by hiking the cost.
Home affairs minister Dr Leon Schreiber hit back on X, alleging the bank was profiting at the state’s expense and undermining national security.
Jonker, who helped launch TymeBank in 2019 with a vision of financial and digital inclusion, now serves as the group’s CEO and executive chairman.
This morning, Jonker told ITWeb that “our open letter was a sincere attempt to engage the minister on an issue of great concern to us that will impact millions of South Africans”.
TymeBank argues that raising the cost of identity verification by 6 500% will make banking unaffordable for millions of poor South Africans – people previously excluded from financial services – because the bank cannot absorb the increase.
“We believe identity verification should be a public good. We’re standing up for our customers – and for a financial system that works for everyone,” Jonker says. “We have taken this position because this isn’t just about banking; it’s about justice and inclusion.”
The DHA’s decision “shifts the cost of what should be a state-funded utility onto the shoulders of the poor. It imposes a regressive tax that penalises those with the least,” Jonker wrote in his letter on Tuesday.
Schreiber responded by accusing TymeBank of profiting from the state’s resources.
“Shocking is the fact that you paid a measly 15 cents for years – relying on taxpayers to subsidise the rest of the actual cost while you profited,” Schreiber said. “Take your faux outrage somewhere else and stop putting profiteering over people!”
TymeBank, which now banks 11 million South Africans and achieved record customer deposits of R7 billion for 2024, claims to be “the fastest-growing bank in South Africa based on customer deposits”.
Schreiber also accused Jonker of trying to prevent the DHA from correcting under-pricing to invest in the NPR before it “cripples national security”.
Jonker’s letter followed a departmental statement on Monday announcing the upgraded NPR rollout next Tuesday. The statement argued that the 15c-per-check fee was well below market-related rates, depriving home affairs of resources needed to maintain the NPR and resulting in system failure rates of more than 50%.
The department called on users to “rise above narrow profiteering and put South Africa’s national security interests first”.
Jonker, however, maintained that identity verification is a public good. “Around the world, it is subsidised or fully funded because of its essential role in national development. Yet here, in a time when our country most needs inclusivity, innovation and trust, we are choosing exclusion.”
The proposed change would make South Africa “almost twice as expensive as the most expensive peer group countries, like Pakistan and Ecuador,” Jonker noted.
Schreiber further criticised Jonker, saying it was “shocking” that Jonker admitted “in writing, that he never even read our letter inviting public comment, then approached a political party from the shadows after the comment period closed to try and apply pressure − and now dishonestly claims he was not consulted”.
Jonker countered that TymeBank “did not sit idly by during your consultation process,” having engaged in good faith through the South African Banking Risk Information Centre.
“The decision you have taken suggests our concerns were dismissed. As this decision has been gazetted and there is apparently no willingness from your department to engage, we are left with no choice but to speak directly to the public we both serve,” Jonker wrote. He added that he remains open to discussions with the minister.
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