• Mukuru and Payfast have launched a new way for people who can’t make online payments to pay for online purchases in cash.
• After a purchase is made online, a customer can now take a unique pin code to a Mukuru pay point to deposit cash for the online payment.
• The method can be accessed on the Payfast platform now.

South Africa’s fintech space remains incredibly robust. A 2023 report from Mastercard found that 95 percent of South Africans used at least one form of fintech or digital payment method last year. The country sports a vast digitally inclined and young population and fintech for Africans by Africans from the likes of Mukuru continues to empower people to connect to the digital economy.

One highlight from the report is that people are becoming more and more welcoming to innovative methods to process digital payments. However, millions of South Africans still make payments and manage transactions solely in cash due to a lack of access to digital technology.

The latest from Mukuru sees a partnership with Cape Town’s Payfast to bring more ways for vendors to accept cash payments. Now, Mukuru will be available on the Payfast platform to allow merchants to accept cash payments for online purchases. This can effectively open up a whole new customer base for these merchants, ie. people who can’t make online payments or EFTs.

How does it work? According to an announcement from Mukuru, when a customer selects Mukuru as a payment option on the checkout page of the online store, they are sent a unique code. They can take this code to any Mukuru pay point nationwide within 36 hours to pay for their purchase. As soon as the cash payment is made, Payfast informs the merchant, and the online order is processed.

The new option covers customers who prefer to use cash online, to those employed in the informal sector and primarily deal in cash.

Mukuru, of course, says that they manage a “wide range of cash-to-digital pay-in points” across urban and rural South Africa, but perhaps the system can be further expanded to include bank ATMs in the future, which will add even more equity to merchants in the country to access digital payments.

“We have customers who trust us and are familiar with using our platform, making their transition to the digital economy seamless,” says O’Brien. The competitive merchant fees and convenience of pay points for this on-demand product for customers makes it an accessible option for all,” explained Oliver O’Brien, Group Executive Head of Strategy and Business Development at Mukuru, adding that the new partnership provides consumers with a safer and more reliable option than cash on delivery that has been fraught with challenges.

“Millions of people in South Africa can now access a range of online stores that cover all categories from entertainment and fashion to groceries and appliances. Merchants can now tap into this sizable and underserved market to unlock more growth opportunities,” he concludes.

For more information, you can check out the Mukuru website here.

[Image – Provided]