Govt concerned banks may become Covid-19 super-spreaders
Banks across the country will have to beef up their response to Covid-19 amid concerns they could become the source of super-spreader events.
This as the country is experiencing a massive spike in coronavirus cases amid the second wave of infections.
Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says banks will need to ensure that their ATMs are equipped with hand sanitisers to help limit the spread of the deadly virus.
The new regulations were gazetted on Tuesday.
“It came to our attention that people queue at ATMs but there is no sanitisation there,” Dlamini-Zuma told the media.
“So, the regulation now is that every bank or financial institution that has an ATM must ensure that there are sanitisers at the ATM. This is very important, because, if not, the ATMs could become super-spreaders.”
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She added adequate social distancing would also need to be in place.
Banks which fail to comply could face a hefty fine or jail time.
“If they don’t keep to what they are supposed to do the penalties are there, they start from a fine, it can be a fine, it can be imprisonment up to 6 months or both. Banks are no different from other institutions and people who manage banks must take that responsibility,” she said.
“The banks must figure out what to do but the thing is to protect people who go to the ATMs and draw money or put money in and the banks, I’m quite sure, are ready to do what needs to be done without closing the ATMs.”
Dlamini-Zuma added the new regulations would be reviewed at a later stage.
“The president did say that some of these regulations will be reviewed when we have reached the peak, passed the peak and when the numbers have dropped sufficiently to allow us to remove these regulations.”
