Derek Gaba: To be honest with the new currency we don’t know. We just read about it in the newspapers, but we haven’t received it. We are waiting to hold it and see the new features. Then we will be able to comment and say if it's safe or not.
The South African Reserve Bank is responsible for issuing and regulating the country’s currency. The bank periodically issues new banknotes and coins to improve security features and deter counterfeiting.
The currency continues to carry images of former president Nelson Mandela and Africa’s big five. There will also be specific physical characteristics to help visually impaired people differentiate the banknotes.
The Fourways Review spoke to a few residents to hear their thoughts about the new currency, do they think the new currency is safe, and whether scammers won’t be easily scamming people using the new banknotes.
Mimy Gumede: I think it will be safe because even with the ones we have, there are still details that you can observe and see that this is fake. They are doing a good job because there are those lines and those secret animals that we can’t see, and scammers can’t duplicate. I think they are doing a good job and it is going to work.William Croxton: I think the new banknote will be good because the Reserve Bank knows how to do money. They are good at their job. Which would make scammers’ jobs hard.Mdumiseni Khumalo: Obviously it’s gonna be easy for scammers to scam people because some of the scammers work for these big companies so they know all the features.Pinky Nleya: I think they should have kept the money as it is because the features on the current banknote, are actually not bad so it’s not easy to make fake notes. As for scammers, they will always find a way to scam people.Ivan Koma: Why are they changing the previous notes with a current note? Because from what I’ve seen there’s not much difference. It’s basically the same there’s a small difference, they are wasting money on something that is unnecessary. They should take this money to create jobs and take children to school.
