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“It is sad. The government is not lifting a finger on these matters. I’ve got a client whose house was sold in execution. The amount overcharged was much higher than the amount they said was in arrears.” – Emerald van Zyl

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Sizwe sama Yende

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Financial investigator, Emerald van Zyl, has hit back at FirstRand with an R80 million lawsuit following his campaign to get the bank’s subsidiary, Wesbank, account for allegedly overcharging blacks more interest on their vehicle loans.

Van Zyl told The People’s Eye podcast this week that he was claiming for damages because the bank lied under oath when he could not attend a trial in 2013 because he was sick due to poisoning.

In one of the many showdowns with the bank, he laid a fraud charge against WesBank and its CEO, Ghana Msibi, in 2024 - alleging that WesBank had overcharged its clients on their vehicle finance accounts based on incorrect interest calculation.

WATCH: Banks are ripping us off (Emerald van Zyl)

The charge was dismissed in court due to lack of evidence.

Van Zyl’s war with the bank began in 2010 when he accused it of over-charging black home-owners by more than 100% on their home loan accounts. He was referring to home loan accounts the First National Bank inherited from the defunct Saambou bank.

The Northern Gauteng High Court recently found that Van Zyl showed a malicious disregard for the facts and an overriding desire to continue his vendetta against FNB. Previously, Van Zyl’s case of racism against FNB was dismissed by the Equality Court in Cape Town.

Undeterred, Van Zyl said this week that he was soldiering on.

“The matter started on May 15 2013 in Pretoria and on the 16th I was poisoned with arsenic and ended in intensive care. I had to fly back to Cape Town for an emergency operation,” he said.

“This left them to lie under oath. Now I have proof. I was not there to support my legal team. I’m suing FirstRand for R80 million for damages because they lied under oath.”

Van Zyl said that consumer protection collapsed in 1994 when the ANC took over government because politicians became directors in the boards of these banking institutions.

“What happened is, consumer protection collapsed and government never acted on information I gave them,” said Van Zyl.

He said that he recently used a KZN law firm to submit his reports to the Speaker of Parliament, Thoko Didiza, to deal with the banks.

“It is sad. The government is not lifting a finger on these matters. I’ve got clients whose house was sold in execution. The amount overcharged was much higher than the amount they said was in arrears,” said Van Zyl.

He said that greed drove the banks to overcharge and destroy people’s lives.

The whole system, said Van Zyl, was centred around profitability without caring how people’s lives were destroyed.

“People need to be educated on home loans and vehicle loans. People buy cars and they take a balloon payment to pay less monthly. A car for R350 000 and pay R70 000 more. They lie to people and people must stay away from balloon payment.”

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