South Africa's major banks are reaching out to the 13 million poor who have no bank accounts, offering them a "Mzansi" seen as vital to advance black economic empowerment.
"Mzansi" account holders will enjoy low fees and no-fuss applications with banks that have been known to demand a myriad of documents including salary slips and proof of residency to do business.
"All you will need is an identity document and a very, very small deposit, around 20 rand," (three US dollars/ 2.50 euros), says Charles Chemel who is spearheading the project for the South African Banking Council, a watchdog group.
While South Africa boasts one of the most sophisticated banking sectors in the world, it is also saddled with the baggage of apartheid as former homelands set up for blacks have few banking outlets.
Giving poor South Africans access to a "Mzansi" - a Zulu word meaning south - fits into the objectives of President Thabo Mbeki's key policy of black economic empowerment that seeks to transfer some of the white-owned wealth into the hands of black South Africans. A black economic empowerment charter for the banking sector that came into effect in January calls on banks to broaden access to financial services to blacks who were dispossessed under apartheid.
A study by the Reserve Bank last year showed that 72 percent of black South Africans do not own bank accounts compared to nearly 90 percent of whites who do.
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