By Staff Reporter
Bayport Financial Services has introduced the DDACC system to recover money owed to the institution by civil servants, in view of government’s failure to remit workers deduction since mid-2019.
And Bayport is closing several branches across the country, including the Kariba Branch along Cha Cha Cha road, whose last operating day is tomorrow, in an effort to make their operations lean and centralised in light of the harsh economic climate.
Well placed sources in the institutions told Daily Revelation that the company decided to introduce the Direct Debit and Credit Clearing (DDACC) system, where money meant for the financial institution is deducted directly by banks from the civil servants bank account where they receive their pay.
The sources said the financial institution had over 100,000 customers working for the government, and was owed close to K400 million at the last time of checking, saying the lack of government remittances has had a negative impact on its operations.
The sources said as part of an effort to make the institution’s operations lean and centralised, 69 workers had recently gone on voluntary separation, while some branches will be closed, including the one on Cha Cha Cha road.
“Mainly it’s the workers who have served for a long time that have gone on voluntary separation, because even if they had not opted for voluntary separation, management would have come up with compulsory separation, because they really want to make the operations lean,” the sources said.
Government owes Bayport and other financial institutions millions of Kwachas for failing to remit monies it has been deducting from civil servants that got loan facilities from financial institutions.
The Civil Servants and Allied Workers of Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ) has pleaded with the government to release monies deducted from its members and remit it to banks and financial institutions among them, Bayport Financial Services where they acquired loans.
Speaking with Daily Revelation recently, union president Davy Chiyobe disclosed that because of the government’s failure to remit money deducted from its members, some of them had been referred to the Credit Bureau and blacklisted.
He said when the union learnt of government’s failure to remit loan deductions for its members to banks and financial institutions last year, they wrote to then Finance Minister Margaret Mwanakatwe but she failed to address the matter.
“We wanted the minister to show direction but she lamentably failed. She never responded. We tried calling her nothing. No appointment. She lamentably failed,” he complained.
The union urged the government to start remitting the money as this would enable them to access loans which they could not do without.-Daily Revelations