News

Oops: Zambian president's bankcard confiscated by ATM

July 2, 2012

Zambian President Michael Sata was frustrated in an attempt to withdraw money from an ATM last weekend at a trade fair in the city of Ndola, Zambia.

According to an article in the Zambian Watchdog, Sata was in the company of trade fair chairman Phesto Musonda, and two government ministry officials when, apparently on a sudden impulse, he took out his bankcard, inserted it into a ZANACO bank ATM, and watched it disappear forever.

ZANACO officials claimed that an Internet failure was responsible for the machine's failure to return Sata's card, the Watchdog said. However Sata said it was the bank's director that failed.

Coincidentally (or not) the incident followed the appointment by Sata of a commission of inquiry into the recent sale of ZANACO para-state owned FI, after complaints by the public of poor service from the bank.

For more on this topic, visit the bank automation research center.