How Dagga Decriminalisation Changed Criminal Convictions
Drug-related crimes have plummeted since a 2018 ConCourt ruling
Partnership
The ‘No Hope’ Local Municipality
There is clearly no hope left for the Emfuleni Local Municipality (Evaton, Sebokeng, Vaal Oewer, Vanderbijlpark, Vereeniging). Rand Water’s latest attachment of the Municipality’s bank account is the final nail in the coffin for this administration. Rand Water took this drastic step last week after Emfuleni failed to fully settle a debt of R300 million […]
The post Emfuleni op sy knieë: Rand Water heg bankrekening aan te midde van onwettige aansuiweringsbegroting appeared first on Freedom Front Plus.
Cape Town Affordable Housing Projects Inch Forward
Construction is yet to start on Western Cape government’s inner-city projects
Further Clashes Could Follow Lamola’s Call on Us Ambassador Bozell to Explain “Undiplomatic Remarks”
South Africa may have overplayed its hand by summoning the United States (US) Ambassador, Leo Bozell, to explain his so-called “undiplomatic remarks” regarding, among other things, court rulings on the “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” chant. Bozell’s statements over the past few days regarding bilateral relations between the US and South Africa have, in […]
The post Further clashes could follow Lamola’s call on US Ambassador Bozell to explain “undiplomatic remarks” appeared first on Freedom Front Plus.
Volunteers Turn Derelict Historic Building into a Thriving Community Centre
A 19th-century Cape Dutch homestead in Cape Town has been revived through a partnership between SAHRA and volunteers
SA’s Harbours Are Slowly Recovering
Cape Town port hit record numbers in 2024
Fire Victims Stuck as Housing Plans Fall Through
Families in Doornbach settlement in Cape Town are still waiting for emergency housing, six weeks after the fire
Respect the 400,000 Waiting for Homes
The GOOD Party stands firmly with the people of Cape Town in opposing the planned auction of more than 50 parcels of public land on 26 February 2026.
The post GOOD PARTY: HALT THE AUCTION, RESPECT THE 400,000 WAITING FOR HOMES appeared first on For Good.
IEC Commits to Make Voting Easier for People With Disabilities
Only 15 out of 18,000 voting officials in the Western Cape identified as having a disability in 2024 elections
Johannesburg Residents Urged to Join Online Debt Relief Sessions
GOOD National Chairperson and Chairperson of the Section 79 Finance Committee in the City of Joburg, Matthew Cook, is urging residents across the metro to participate in the upcoming Regional Online Debt Relief Engagements hosted by the City of Johannesburg between 18 February and 12 March 2026.
The post JOHANNESBURG RESIDENTS URGED TO JOIN ONLINE DEBT RELIEF SESSIONS appeared first on For Good.
80% of NSFAS Students Are First Years
Many students drop out or find alternative funding
How Rural Communities Can Help Fix Their Water Supply
Communities do not have to be passive victims of municipal failures
Cape Town Leads Metro Housing Race
Here’s how the major cities are doing on housing delivery
Angola’s Lobito Corridor Is Being Revived – Who Stands to Gain?
The Lobito Corridor has become strategically important in the global scramble for critical resources.
Where Has All Our Money Gone? A Look at Government’s Wasted Billions
Auditor-General has condemned “no-consequence culture” in government
Failing Water Systems Will Cost R400-Billion to Fix, Says Minister
73% of water authorities in South Africa have “poor” or “critical” water systems
Cape Flats Murders Are on the Rise
Some areas have improved, but the overall picture is grim
HIV Funding Still Falls Short of Targets After Pledges: What’s at Stake
A mix of domestic revenue generation, efficiency gains and strategic partnerships is essential to sustain and expand HIV programmes despite declining external aid.
Nowhere to Swim in Komani This Christmas
Municipal swimming pools have fallen into disrepair
New Telco-Powered Credit Score Set to Transform Access to Finance for Millions of South Africans
- TransUnion Africa, MTN and its digital platform business, Chenosis, are collaborating to harness mobile network data, setting a new standard for financial inclusion and responsible lending
- A new alternative scoring solution, powered by Call Data Records (CDR), will help millions of financially excluded South Africans gain access to credit
- By incorporating non-traditional data based on consumer consent, lenders can make more accurate and fair credit decisions, reducing risk while increasing approval rates
TransUnion Africa, in partnership with MTN and Chenosis, has launched CreditVision® Telco Data Score, a first-of-its-kind credit scoring solution that uses mobile phone call data records to help millions of South Africans with limited or no formal credit history gain access to financial services.
This alternative data scoring model leverages Call Data Records (CDR), which reflect patterns in mobile phone network usage behaviour and correlates it to an individual’s financial behaviour. By using telco data as a proxy for financial reliability, the CreditVision Telco Data Score enables lenders to accurately assess New-to-Credit (NTC) consumers and expand access to safe, affordable credit.
Helping the Financially Excluded
According to TransUnion estimates, over 1.4 million credit-invisible South Africans open new credit accounts each year, contributing to more than four million new accounts over the past three years. Yet traditional scoring models often fail to assess this segment accurately, leaving more than 16 million adults outside the formal credit system.
Approximately 35% of New-to-Credit consumers are under the age of 25, many of whom are new to the workforce and often use credit to buy clothing for work, highlighting the need for innovative tools that support younger, digitally active individuals who may lack a conventional credit footprint. Successfully integrating these and other excluded consumers into the economy could add approximately R173 billion1 to South Africa's GDP.
“With over 500 million2 people across the continent excluded from formal financial systems, the scale of the challenge is undeniable. Traditional data models fail to reflect the realities of African consumers, leaving millions without access to credit and the opportunities it enables. Financial inclusion isn’t just part of our mission, it’s our mandate,” said Lee Naik, CEO of TransUnion Africa. “That’s why we believe the only way forward is to think differently, to lead with bold, African-born solutions. Innovations like CreditVision Telco Data Score, designed for Africa, by Africa, are helping us responsibly harness mobile data at scale. In doing so, we’re not only expanding access to credit, but we’re also unlocking economic potential, accelerating inclusive growth, and reshaping the future of finance across the continent.”
Creating Opportunity with Consent and Compliance
The use of CDR data is subject to explicit consumer consent and is managed in compliance with South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). MTN is responsible for consent management and will ensure that Chenosis, MTN’s API marketplace, facilitates the connection between MTN’s data ecosystem and partners like TransUnion in a secure and scalable manner.
“This partnership demonstrates how mobile technology and secure data sharing can support positive change in the financial sector and unlock new opportunities for millions of South Africans,” said Selorm Adadevoh, Group Chief Commercial Officer, MTN Group. “We are committed to ensuring that data is used responsibly, with the customer’s interests at the forefront. This is a model of what responsible innovation can look like.”
Empowering Lenders and Growing the Economy
For lenders, the CreditVision Telco Data Score has demonstrated a 25–35% improvement in predictive performance over previous alternative data models, based on recent pre-launch validations across the retail and banking sectors.
By adopting CreditVision Telco Data Score, lenders can better predict user behaviour and support responsible lending by ensuring that credit users at risk of default are not overexposed and can be effectively supported throughout their credit journey.
Importantly, the product also helps New-to-Credit consumers establish and build their credit footprint over time. According to TransUnion data, low-risk individuals significantly increase their credit exposure within 18 months of becoming credit active, underscoring the long-term benefits of responsible financial inclusion strategies.
“With Chenosis, we enable collaboration between mobile operators and solution providers while maintaining high security and compliance standards,” said Waseem Amra, Head of Products and Platforms, Chenosis. “This partnership highlights how secure data access can support innovation in financial services that can transform lives.”
This partnership between TransUnion Africa, MTN, and Chenosis reflects the growing trend of using diverse data sources to create more accurate and inclusive financial access. Integrating mobile network insights into credit scoring provides a practical and scalable way to reach more individuals, while maintaining high standards of privacy and compliance.
“With this inclusive innovation, TransUnion has taken the lead in creating an impactful solution to one of the continent’s most pressing challenges – finding responsible pathways to greater financial inclusion that will unlock opportunities for individual and national growth. By turning mobile data into meaningful opportunity, we have set the standard in making transformation possible by showing how technology can be used in groundbreaking alternative ways. Together with MTN and Chenosis, we are building a future where every South African, regardless of their financial history, has the chance to be seen, to be trusted, and to thrive,” Naik concluded. “When financial institutions can measure risk more effectively, they can lend more confidently, and more consumers can access opportunity, and that’s a win for everyone.”
1. Based on TransUnion’s modelling and interpretation of economic market dynamics. 2. Source: The Global Findex Database 2021
SAPS Drowning in Unsolved Dockets
There were 1.9-million unsolved cases by the end of the 2024 financial year
TransUnion Announces Minority Investment and Strategic Partnership with Omnisient to Accelerate Alternative Data Adoption
TransUnion today announced a minority investment and broader strategic partnership with Omnisient, a South Africa-founded FinTech operating internationally that offers a privacy-preserving data collaboration and advanced analytics platform. The Omnisient platform empowers businesses to safely access high-value consumer data ecosystems and rapidly integrate alternative data sets to drive intelligent decision-making. As part of the investment, a TransUnion representative will join Omnisient’s board of directors.
“The Omnisient platform allows multiple clients to use built-in advanced analytical tools to simultaneously evaluate the utility of diverse data sets, identifying those that deliver measurable value. Through this collaboration, TransUnion expects to gain access to a broader range of alternative data sources and privacy preservation capabilities. By accelerating the integration of high-impact data into our ecosystem, we intend to enhance existing solutions and develop new, market-relevant products that better meet the evolving needs of our customers,” said Lee Naik, Regional President/ CEO of TransUnion Africa.
“Traditional data models often fail to reflect the lived realities of African consumers, leaving millions without access to credit and the opportunities it enables,” said Naik. “Financial inclusion is central to unlocking economic growth across the continent. That’s why we’re committed to leading with bold, African-born solutions designed to see the unseen and serve the credit invisible by integrating alternative data sets alongside traditional credit data in ways that reflect uniquely African contexts and realities. By incorporating non-traditional indicators of financial behaviour, this approach broadens access to credit and helps us reach more underserved communities. We believe accelerating the adoption of alternative data is critical to closing the credit gap at scale, enabling faster, fairer and more inclusive access to financial services for millions across the continent."
“Our privacy-preserving data collaboration platform brings financial services and consumer brands together, allowing them to discover, validate and commercialise new alternative sources of consumer behavioural and transactional data without having to exchange sensitive personal information,” said Jon Jacobson, co-founder and group CEO of Omnisient. “This data allows financial institutions to make better risk decisions with more confidence and security, unlocking the potential to grow financial inclusion for hundreds of millions of people around the world.”
This collaboration marks a natural progression in TransUnion’s strategy to expand financial inclusion across Africa. By leveraging privacy-enabled alternative data sets through Omnisient’s platform, TransUnion intends to strengthen its ability to help address the challenge of bringing an estimated 500 million* financially excluded Africans into the formal financial ecosystem. By responsibly harnessing alternative data at scale, TransUnion sees the opportunity to bring millions of new-to-credit and credit-underserved consumers across Africa into the financial mainstream. This enables individuals to begin building a credit profile, many for the first time, laying the foundation for long-term economic empowerment. It’s a powerful demonstration of TransUnion’s commitment to using Information for Good® to drive measurable impact at scale: expanding access to credit, unlocking economic potential and reshaping the future of finance across Africa.
Global demand is rising for alternative data solutions that protect privacy, build trust and unlock value. Omnisient’s platform meets this need with technology that enables secure, privacy-preserving data collaboration. Instead of transferring raw data, Omnisient uses tokenised keys to represent personal information in the data set, ensuring privacy is maintained throughout the process. As a leading provider in Africa of secure, many-to-many data connectivity between banks, financial institutions and third-party sources, Omnisient is driving innovation in data collaboration.
*Source: The Global Findex Database 2021
Lesotho’s Parliament blocks debate on explosive hospital report
The wife of the foreign affairs minister features prominently in the report
Be the Reason: A Movement in Partnership with TransUnion and the International Finance Corporation to Unlock Financial Opportunity for All
TransUnion, a global information and insights company, has launched a bold new campaign, ‘Be the Reason Things Change’, aimed at making financial inclusion a reality for more South Africans. This powerful initiative calls on individuals, communities, businesses, and institutions to join a movement for change, one that ensures every person is seen, supported, and given the tools to participate in the formal financial system.
In a country known for both its beauty and inequality, where access to formal credit remains out of reach for many, ‘Be the Reason Things Change’ seeks to break down the barriers that keep people excluded, by focusing on consumer education, innovation, and community engagement. The campaign is designed to help South Africans take control of their financial futures, regardless of who they are or where they come from, whilst also advocating for businesses to embrace alternative data and innovative scoring solutions to see and serve the unseen. By doing so, they too can empower the disempowered, expanding access and inclusion, and enabling more people to participate meaningfully in the financial ecosystem and live the lives they deserve.
“At TransUnion, we believe in a world where the impossible becomes possible, where the unseen are finally seen, and where every South African deserves the opportunity to participate fully in the economy,” says Lee Naik, CEO TransUnion Africa.
’Be the Reason Things Change’ is more than a campaign slogan; it’s a call to action to take part in building a more inclusive financial system. Through innovative data solutions and consumer education, we aim to spark a national conversation about breaking down barriers in the credit landscape and ensuring financial empowerment is accessible to all. Ultimately, we want more South Africans to be included in the formal financial economy, empowering them to understand how access to credit can transform their lives and enable them to uplift their communities,” says Naik.
Addressing South Africa’s Financial Inclusion Challenge
Many South Africans continue to face obstacles in accessing formal credit and quality financial services. Traditional systems often feel exclusive or out of reach, especially for underserved individuals and small businesses, because they rely heavily on past borrowing behaviour as the primary measure of creditworthiness. According to TransUnion’s CreditVision® Telco Data Score data-modelling, over 1.4 million credit-invisible South Africans open new credit accounts each year, contributing to more than four million new accounts over the past three years*. Yet traditional scoring models frequently fail to assess these consumers accurately, leaving over 16 million adults outside the formal credit system. Successfully integrating these and other excluded consumers into the economy could contribute an estimated R173 billion to South Africa’s GDP.
A significant portion, approximately 35% of new-to-credit consumers are under the age of 25, many entering the workforce for the first time and using credit to cover essentials such as work clothing. This highlights the urgent need for innovative, inclusive tools that better reflect the realities of younger, digitally active individuals who may lack a conventional credit footprint.
TransUnion is shifting the paradigm by embracing alternative data, creating new scoring capabilities, and ensuring that individuals who were once unclassifiable can now be assessed fairly and accurately. Its “Be the Reason Things Change” campaign responds to this need by equipping the public with practical tools, credit education, and the confidence to take charge of their financial futures.
Collaborative Effort with Global Partners
The campaign is supported by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has played a key role as a technical advisor and promotor of credit information tools in South Africa, reinforcing the global imperative to expand equitable access to financial services.
“We are proud to support TransUnion’s ‘Be the Reason Things Change’ campaign, which aligns closely with our mission to advance inclusive economic development,” says Cláudia Conceição, IFC Regional Director for Southern Africa. “By removing barriers to credit access, this initiative empowers individuals and communities to build financial resilience and unlock economic opportunity, key pillars of long-term social impact.”
This collaboration highlights the value of cross-sector partnerships in tackling systemic financial exclusion, combining local insights with global best practices to deliver scalable solutions.
Empowering Through Education, Innovation, Investment and Africa Firsts
‘Be the Reason Things Change’ will see TransUnion roll out a fully integrated marketing campaign designed to demystify the credit system and empower people from all walks of life. Key pillars of the campaign include:
- A first-ever interactive peelable billboard in Africa, installed at Melrose Arch, located by the entrance off Corlett Drive in Johannesburg.
- A first-ever digital billboard aimed at reaching audiences beyond the Johannesburg area.
- Transformational stories from campaign ambassadors include Springbok rugby stars Makazole Mapimpi and Lukhanyo Am, as well as fashion entrepreneur Tshepo Mohlala
- Springbok, Lukhanyo Am and fashion entrepreneur, Tshepo Mohlala will be launching the campaign at Melrose Arch on 21 August 2025 where they will peel the first layers of the billboard and share their own personal journeys.
- Over R10m valued in sponsorship and investment in e-learning credit courses for over 5,000 South Africans.
- Practical education: Simple, clear resources to help people understand credit scores, manage debt, and make informed financial choices.
- A unique AI-powered digital film piece.
- Innovative Solutions: New offerings to help enable lenders to see consumers previously unseen, empowering consumers to access new credit opportunities
‘Be the Reason Things Change’ is about rewriting the story around credit and creditworthiness,” says Naik. “We want every South African to understand how credit works, what their score means, and how they can maintain and improve it. More importantly, we want them to believe they can be the reason things change.”
Campaign Execution Partners
The campaign was brought to life through a dynamic collaboration with creative agency 1 Over One, who led the conceptual development; local production partner Run Jump Fly, who delivered a unique AI-powered digital film piece, FleishmanHillard South Africa and Capacity Relations who provided strategic PR, media and activation support to amplify the message and ensure meaningful engagement across key audiences.
Join the Movement
TransUnion invites all South Africans to join the movement for financial inclusion. To learn more, participate in the campaign, and access educational resources, visit www.transunion.co.za/bethereason.
Consumers can get their free annual credit report from TransUnion here.
* The three-year period refers to an analysis of the TransUnion Credit Bureau database over the period for January 2022 – December 2025.