The South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC) says nearly R120 million in physical cash was stolen from ATMs and bank branches during the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng between 9 and 17 July.
On Tuesday, the centre released a statement after assessing the threats and quantifying the losses incurred by the banking industry due to the civil unrest that resulted in widespread theft and the destruction of infrastructure.
SABRIC says the money was stolen from at least 1 227 ATMs and another 310 bank branches which were vandalised or destroyed during the eight consecutive days of looting in the two provinces.
This figure includes 256 machines that were breached and 36 that were physically stolen from their site, never to be seen again.
In addition, 82 in-branch safes were also breached, and that the sum of hard cash stolen excludes all further infrastructural damage and replacement costs.
SABRIC CEO, Nischal Mewalall, says there is great concern over the impact of intelligence failures and the state's response to the unrest that resulted in the unprecedented destruction of banking infrastructure in South Africa.
He highlighted that the theft of hard cash is extremely concerning.
“Not all notes are dye-stained, and millions in unsoiled notes will be injected back into the economy,” Mewallal says.
He says this now means that the money is the proceeds of crime and there is now a war chest available to fund more organised crime, to corrupt more officials and to promote lawlessness.
Mewallal says the effectiveness of South Africa’s anti-money laundering and counter financing of terrorism regime is critical in detecting the individuals behind these crimes.
SABRIC further urges businesses to be stringent about cash threshold reporting and to not engage in facilitating suspicious transactions.
