ABSA BANK CENTRAL CITY HAS GONE ROGUE- ACCESS DELAYS, AND “SYSTEM DOWN” EXCUSES

I write this letter on behalf of **Mrs Pertunia Malatji**, a loyal ABSA client who has been investing with your bank for several years.

This is not a new client walking in without history. This is not a person demanding special treatment. This is a long-standing customer who trusted ABSA with her money, her time, and her financial peace of mind.

For the past **four days**, Mrs Malatji has been trying to access or deal with her investment at **ABSA Central City Branch**. Instead of receiving clear, professional, and urgent assistance, she has been given shifting explanations. First, she was told there was a **FICA-related issue**. When she returned with the required FICA documents, she was then told that the **system is down**.

This now raises serious concerns.

How does a major financial institution like ABSA have a system down for four days, possibly stretching to five days, without a clear alternative process, escalation path, written confirmation, or proper customer support? If the system is genuinely down, then ABSA must explain how a loyal client’s investment access is being protected. If the system is not the real issue, then the question becomes even more serious: is this a staff service failure, internal negligence, or unfair treatment?

From the outside, this conduct makes ABSA Central City appear disorganised, dismissive, and careless with people’s money. It creates the impression that customers are being sent away instead of being helped. Whether this is caused by broken systems, poor leadership, lazy service culture, or staff simply refusing to take accountability, the result is the same: **a loyal client is being blocked from proper service regarding her own investment.**

Mrs Malatji requires immediate written answers to the following:

1. What exactly is preventing access to or processing of her investment? 2. Was there genuinely a system outage at ABSA Central City Branch for the past four days? 3. If the system was down, why was no alternative support process provided? 4. Why was FICA raised first, and after compliance was attempted, the reason changed to “system down”? 5. Who is the responsible manager handling this matter? 6. What is the official complaint reference number? 7. When exactly will Mrs Malatji be assisted and given proper access to her investment-related service? 8. Will ABSA compensate or formally apologise for the wasted time, inconvenience, and distress caused?

Let it be placed on record that this treatment has damaged our confidence in ABSA Central City Branch. I personally bank with ABSA and do not receive this kind of treatment, which makes the situation even more disturbing. It raises uncomfortable questions about whether certain clients are treated differently depending on who serves them, how they look, how they speak, or how seriously staff decide to take them.

ABSA must understand that investments are not casual matters. This is people’s money. This is household planning. This is trust. When a bank mishandles communication around investments, it does not only inconvenience a client — it creates fear, suspicion, and reputational damage.

We therefore demand that this matter be escalated urgently to the Branch Manager, Regional Manager, and ABSA Complaints Department. We further request a written response within **48 hours** from receipt of this letter.

Should this matter not be resolved immediately and professionally, we reserve the right to escalate the complaint to ABSA Head Office, the Banking Ombud, consumer protection structures, and public review platforms.

ABSA Central City must stop hiding behind vague explanations and provide proper service. A bank of ABSA’s size cannot tell clients “the system is down” for days while their investment matters remain unresolved.

We expect urgent action.

Yours faithfully,

**Pertunia Malatji**

Assisted by: Her Husband

On behalf of Mrs Pertunia Malatji