‘Check your banknotes before accepting them’ – SA currency managers

The South African Reserve Bank’s Currency Integrity Enablement Officer, Tumelo Mopai, is encouraging members of the public – especially owners of SMMEs – to check the authenticity of the notes and coins they receive from their customers, to ensure that the notes and coins exhibit the several security features that ensures their legitimacy.

Speaking to The Citizen, Mopai said that figures around cases where counterfeit currency has been involved are quite manageable at present, due to the awareness they have been raising around currency management, where they were educating the public on how to be mindful of the security features on these bank notes.

How to check for a genuine banknote: Look, feel, tilt.

Mopai advised that there was currently a SARB Currency App that raised awareness about South African banknotes and coins, and the role of the SARB. She said that the interactive features of the app illustrate how to authenticate banknotes and coins.

There were six points to that the bank highlighted, dividing them between three steps, namely look, feel and tilt.

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Under the first step – look – the public was advised to look for two key features on the note namely the security thread and the watermark. “By holding a banknote up to the light, the security thread – which is the shiny strip on the front of the banknote – becomes a continuous solid line The words ‘SARB’, ‘Rand’, the denomination and the South African coat of arms should also be visible,” she explained.

For the second step in checking for authenticity – feel – Mopai explained that by lightly running one’s fingertips over the banknote, they should be able to feel the raised print over the the portrait of Nelson Mandela. The words ‘South African Reserve Bank’ can be felt.

“There are also raised lines on the bottom left and right of the front of the banknote which are aids for the visually impaired. The R10 has one line, the R20 two lines, the R50 three lines, the R100 four lines and the R200 five lines,” she said.

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By tilting a banknote, members of the public will be able to observe the last two features which are a slight colour shift in the metallic thread.

“The numerals on the bottom right of the banknote are printed with a colour-changing ink. The R10 and R20 banknotes exhibit a slight colour shift, whereas the R50, R100 and R200 banknotes appear to have a moving line,” she said.

What to do when you suspect your note might be counterfeit

Mopai advised that members of the public who come into possession of counterfeit banknotes and coin must immediately report it to their nearest police station.

They will likely be required to provide as much information around the acquiring of that note as possible. So it is better to check the note before accepting it.

“It’s really important to ensure that you check all notes before accepting them. There is some liability that you might encounter if you unwittingly accept bank notes that are damaged or mutilated or dye-stained,” Mopai advised.

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While the SARB is not obliged to make any payment in respect of mutilated banknotes, it does consider the merits of each case. However, those mutilated banknotes would need to be exchanged at the SARB Head Office in Pretoria or designated commercial bank branches, where the value to be paid will be evaluated against specific criteria. However, with regard to dye-stained notes, members of the public who unwittingly come into possession of them cannot claim from the SARB.

New coins for SA in 2023

Meanwhile, media reports have confirmed that the South African government has approved a new design of the 2023 series of coins. This new design has not been revealed to the public yet, though.  However, the SARB assured that new features, that will be implemented through new technology such as electroplating, will limited fraudsters’ ability to fabricate false duplicates of the coin.

During the interview, Mopai explained that both her and her team do outreach programmes where they go out to the different communities to expose people to currency that they might not be familiar with to educate them on how to check that the coins and notes they are receiving are genuine and how to return their old coins and note (that do not increase in value by keeping it).