Loan sharks exploit vulnerable communities

COMMUNITY leaders have sounded the alarm over the rise of loan sharks who offer loans at high interest rates — sometimes as much as 50% — to people who are struggling to make ends meet due to the rising cost of living.

- YOSHINI PERUMAL

They are calling for a clampdown of Joan sharks and more awareness around people getting trapped in a cycle of debt due to the high interest rates.

Pastor Cyril Pillay, chairperson of the Chatsworth Spiritual Crime Prevention Forum, said loan sharks were preying on the community.

“In recent months, loan sharks have become a deeply troubling trend that has been surfacing across our communities in Chatsworth and the broader Durban south region. It is a growing crisis that should alarm not only our civic leaders, but all who carry a heart for the broken, the poor, and the desperate.

“Loan sharks, or ‘mashonisas’, as they are commonly known, are mushrooming at an alarming rate. Their business transactions are dodgy, interest rates crippling, and their presence is both a symptom and a cause of our community's growing despair of financial burdens,” he added.

Pillay said it was no secret that many families in Chatsworth were faced with economic hardship due to the high unemployment rate and social grants failed to cover essential needs.