Hon House Chair, hon members, hon guests, comrades and friends, the Select Committee on Labour and Public Enterprises welcomed the introduction of the South African Postbank Limited Bill, Bill 14B of 2009. The committee gives support to the spirit and intention of what it seeks to achieve in the realisation of a better life for all South Africans, especially in the rural areas.
The process of addressing the challenge of the unbanked low-income groups and people living in the rural areas without access to financial services started with the adoption of the White Paper on Postal Policy in 1998. The policy spelt out the need for state intervention and the form in which this intervention would happen. It identified the Postbank as the most appropriate financial institution, best placed to cater for the needs of rural and poor communities in relation to their banking and financial services.
This Bill seeks to provide for the incorporation of the Postbank division of the South African Post Office and its transfer to the Postbank company. It also seeks to deal with matters of governance and functioning of the Postbank company and with all consequential arrangements that go with this.
As a consequence of socioeconomic inequalities, uneven development between the rural and urban areas and high levels of poverty, millions of people are unbanked and therefore have no access to saving, deposit and credit facilities. According to the National Treasury, only 59% of the country's adult population had a basic bank account as of December 2009.
It was envisaged, at that time, that the establishment of a developmental role for the Postbank would require it to be restructured into a fully fledged savings bank and that the process should be phased in over a period of five to seven years.
Currently, the Postbank has been operating as a division of the Post Office, providing very limited financial services. The Bill takes the implementation of the government policy further by restructuring the Postbank and establishing it as the fully fledged Postbank Limited company. The corporatised entity will assume the current business of the Postbank division of the South African Post Office, which is deposit taking, money transfer, and third-party payment.
In conclusion, the select committee has acknowledged and accepted that the Bill has gone through all the required parliamentary processes, including public hearings, before it was passed by the National Assembly. We, as the Select Committee on Labour and Public Enterprises, have subjected the Bill to scrutiny. In our deliberations we have taken into account the specific conditions pertaining to the provinces and their views. The conditions are that the majority of our population - who are poor, have low incomes and are unbanked - reside mainly in the rural areas. Following these deliberations, the committee accepted the Bill without any further amendments for submission to this House. I therefore put the Bill before the House for adoption. I thank you. [Applause.]
Debate concluded.
Bill agreed to in accordance with section 75 of the Constitution.