KwaZulu-Natal pensioners can now use their smart cards to buy goods at certain stores where they can also draw cash, as the province`s government has allowed Net1 Applied Technology Holdings (Aplitec) to extend its services.
Aplitec has been working with the KwaZulu-Natal government for over four years for the provision of smart cards to pensioners, but their use was restricted to cash dispensers provided by all of Aplitec`s mobile and fixed pay points in rural and urban areas.
According to Aplitec, banking of the beneficiaries was originally proposed in the company`s tender response document which was accepted by the Provincial Tender Board in 1999. Instructions have now been received from the Department of Social Welfare in KwaZulu-Natal for Aplitec to proceed with this implementation.
This positions KwaZulu-Natal`s beneficiaries on the road to a smarter future, as they will now be able to utilise their smart cards as a fully operational bank account protected by their biometric profile.
The card cannot be accessed unless one of the four fingerprints stored on the smart card`s chip is matched against the fingerprint template presented at the point-of-sale terminal. In the event that a card is lost or stolen, the card is 'hot-listed` and the balance, once verified, will be loaded onto a replacement card.
Beneficiaries will also be able to purchase goods and withdraw cash, in an offline environment, from the merchants participating in the payment system.
"This means that we don`t charge merchant fees and the merchants, in turn, are happy to dispense cash to pensioners for free," says Aplitec marketing director Brenda Stewart.
She says there are a total of 2.1 million pensioners using the smart cards at the moment with about one million in KwaZulu-Natal and about 400 000 in the Eastern Cape.
Aplitec is in advanced negotiations with merchants including Shield Wholesalers/Retailers, CBW Holdings (Cash & Carry) and Rhino Cash & Carry. The project will be implemented in phases throughout the province and will involve extensive awareness training for the beneficiaries.
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