The National Consumer Tribunal: Redress for Consumers
NCT
The National Consumer Tribunal was established in terms of the National Credit Act, No. 34 of 2005 (NCA), to provide accessible adjudication and redress in matters that may be referred to or filed with it in terms of the NCA and Consumer Protection Act, Act 68 of 2008 (CPA).
There are various parties who may file with the Tribunal. They are the regulators – the National Credit Regulator (NCR) and the National Consumer Commission (NCC), as well as Debt Counsellors. Consumers may file directly with the Tribunal only in instances specified in the Acts. Otherwise consumers may only file directly with the Tribunal once they have lodged a complaint with the regulators and the regulators have refused to refer their complaint to the Tribunal.
All Registrants under the NCA: debt counselors, credit providers and credit bureaus, may prosecute objections against the NCRs decisions directly before the Tribunal and any party who have been issued a compliance notice by the NCC or the NCR may challenge it before the Tribunal. Class actions suits may also be brought in terms of the Consumer Protection Act.
There are approximately 35 different types of applications (table 2 of the Rules) and 150 different types of prohibited / required conduct referrals from the NCR (NCA) and NCC (CPA) that may be brought before the Tribunal. The Rules for the Conduct of Matters before the National Consumer Tribunal provide for a party to apply to the High Court to bring a matter not specified in the above Acts or the Rules before the Tribunal.
The provisions of the NCA, CPA and the Rules of the Tribunal dictate the processes followed by the Tribunal.
The majority of the applications filed to date are applications for debt re-arrangement agreements to be declared an (consent) order of the Tribunal in terms of Section 138 of the NCA. This is followed by applications for cancellation of registration of credit providers and debt counselors and then by applications by consumers to have complaints that have not been referred by the National Consumer Commission directly referred and heard by the Tribunal.
The Tribunal does not limit the adjudication of its cases to the Tribunal Offices in Centurion. Cases are heard at any venue dictated by considerations of convenience and costs to the parties and the Tribunal.
In making the Tribunal more accessible it has rolled out DRA software to enable debt counselors to submit debt re-arrangement applications electronically to the Tribunal. The Tribunal is looking forward to an aggressive take-up of this, as it will cut down on the turnaround time for the issuance of consent orders. This system is being developed further to in future encompass an end-to-end e-filing system. Consultations will take place in this regard.
Any stakeholders seeking more info or direction in regard to the tribunals internal procedures and requirements are welcome to send queries to key NCT staff members (responsible for the area of activity shown below)
Ms Diane Terblanche
Executive Chairperson and Full Time Tribunal Member
Ms Marelize Bosch
Chief Operations Officer
Ms Anel Burger
Acting Registrar
Area of Responsibility: Manager of the Case Management and Records Management functions.
Mr Farhad Lockhat
Senior Case Analyst
Area of Responsibility: Case Management.
CONTACT DETAILS OF THE NCT
Address: Ground Floor, Building B, Lakefield Office Park, 272 West Avenue, Centurion
Telephone: (012) 683 8140
Fax: (012) 663 5693
E-mail: registry@thenct.org.za
Website: www.thenct.org.za