From pension law roots to a multidisciplinary investigations practice.
Africa Forensics Investigations (Pty) Ltd was established in August 2006 in Johannesburg. What began as a specialist pension law and employee benefits practice has grown into a multidisciplinary investigations firm — combining IT & digital forensics, forensic accounting, fraud examination, litigation support, cybercrime & incident response, expert witness testimony, and debt recovery under one roof.
The firm has remained 100% Black-owned and managed throughout its growth, and draws on nearly two decades of case experience across government, pension funds, municipalities and the private sector.
Eight disciplines, one investigations team.
Each engagement is scoped and staffed to withstand scrutiny — whether the outcome is an internal report, a regulatory submission, or expert testimony in court.
IT Forensic Investigations
Structured investigation of IT systems, networks and infrastructure to establish what happened, when, and by whom.
Digital Forensics & e-Discovery
Acquisition, preservation and analysis of digital evidence — devices, email, cloud data — with a defensible chain of custody.
Forensic Accounting
Tracing funds, reconstructing records and quantifying loss to support disputes, claims and regulatory matters.
Fraud Examination
Investigating suspected internal or external fraud, from initial red flags through to a documented findings report.
Litigation Support
Evidence gathering, case-file preparation and analytical support for attorneys ahead of and during proceedings.
Cybercrime & Incident Response
Rapid response to suspected breaches and cyber-enabled fraud, with root-cause analysis and remediation guidance.
Expert Witness Testimony
Independent, court-ready testimony on IT, digital and financial forensic findings across civil and regulatory matters.
Debt Recovery & Collection
End-to-end recovery of outstanding debt, from negotiated settlement through to legal enforcement where required.
Debt recovery & collection
Our longest-standing practice line. As an investigations and legal-support firm, we bring track-and-trace, negotiation and litigation capability together — giving clients faster recovery with no collection, no fee.
Why clients use us
- Fast, structured methods of recovering debt
- No collection, no fee — cost aligned with results
- Dedicated capacity, resources and time
- Well-negotiated settlement agreements
- Track-and-trace facilities
- Full litigation support if legal action becomes necessary
Our capacity
- Recovery Specialists manage portfolios with precision and persistence
- Negotiate payment arrangements and settlements
- Maintain accurate records of all communications and transactions
- Ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations
- A Recovery Manager sets targets, monitors KPIs and refines strategy
Onboarding & assessment
Receive and review client accounts and documentation; categorise by age, value and debtor profile; develop a tailored recovery strategy per account.
Debtor engagement
Initiate contact via phone, SMS, email or letter; verify debtor identity and confirm the outstanding balance; communicate clearly and respectfully.
Negotiation & payment arrangements
Offer flexible repayment options where appropriate; negotiate settlements or payment plans within client guidelines; secure written agreements and monitor adherence.
Monitoring & follow-up
Track payment progress and send reminders; escalate non-compliant accounts; maintain detailed records of every interaction.
Legal escalation, where necessary
Recommend and initiate legal action for unresolved accounts, supported by our in-house litigation and forensic capability.
Reporting & feedback
Regular reporting on recovery progress and performance, with insights and recommendations for ongoing credit risk management.
Quality management
- We treat delinquent accounts as invaluable relationships worth rehabilitating, not just debts to close
- Firm but respectful communication with debtors, throughout
- Debtor information is kept accurate and up to date
- Accounts are properly recorded on our case management system
Data management
- Outsourced account files are cleaned and verified before loading
- Duplication checks performed across all files
- Accounts are loaded on the same day they are received
- Requests to close outsourced accounts are actioned immediately
An AI-enabled collections & tracing platform, not just a call centre.
For large or complex debt books, our recovery work is backed by an AI-enabled collections and tracing platform, run in partnership with our technology partner. It handles the repetitive, high-volume work — tracing, first contact, reminders, reconciliation, reporting — so our recovery team can concentrate on negotiation and complex cases.
No collection activity begins until a debtor's identity and status are verified against authoritative records. Verification routes each case: living natural persons proceed to contact tracing and collection; deceased debtors branch into estate resolution; companies are segmented into in-business (recoverable), deregistered/liquidated, and unmatched — so effort is directed only where recovery is viable.
Ingestion & normalisation
Handed-over files are loaded through a controlled ingestion pipeline: identifiers standardised, duplicates resolved, and each debtor established as a case with opening balance, source book and hand-over date.
Verification & tracing
Each case is enriched via integrated authoritative sources: identity and deceased-status verification, company registration and director information, consumer trace and contact append, and bank account verification before any refund or arrangement.
AI-driven engagement
Verified, traceable debtors enter an automated engagement sequence across email, SMS, WhatsApp and outbound calling. AI classifies every inbound response and routes it to the correct workflow or human agent.
Arrangements, monitoring & outcomes
Payment arrangements are captured with mandate documentation, monitored daily against monies received, and escalated on default. Every case concludes with a documented outcome and a full evidence trail.
Intelligent email & omnichannel automation
Our collections mailbox already runs on this automation platform in production, integrating with Microsoft 365 via the Microsoft Graph API under least-privilege, admin-consented permissions. Dedicated mailboxes are synchronised continuously; every message, attachment and action is archived to encrypted cloud storage for audit purposes.
Core capabilities
- Automated outbound campaigns — personalised demand letters, reminders and statements on a defined escalation timeline, with delivery and read tracking
- AI classification of inbound mail — every reply classified (payment made, arrangement request, dispute, hardship, deceased notification, wrong party, out-of-office) and routed accordingly
- Attachment intelligence — proofs of payment, affidavits and supporting documents extracted, stored against the case, and matched to trust account receipts
Case integrity
- Thread-level case history — full conversation threads preserved per debtor in a chronological timeline, reconstructable by any auditor
- Controlled auto-response — automatic replies operate only within an approved allowlist and templates; anything outside requires human sign-off
- Every debtor in every book receives the full contact sequence, at a volume manual teams alone cannot sustain
IT capabilities & secure environment
Our technology partner operates the platform on infrastructure built for regulated South African institutions.
Cloud infrastructure
Hosted on Amazon Web Services in the Cape Town Region (af-south-1), ensuring South African data residency, via an AWS Partner Network member.
Confidentiality & encryption
All data encrypted in transit (TLS 1.2+) and at rest (AES-256); secrets held in a dedicated secrets store; no debtor data stored on end-user devices.
Access control
Role-based access with least privilege, multi-factor authentication for all personnel, and unique named accounts — no shared credentials.
Data integrity & audit trails
Append-only, time-stamped event records for every verification, communication, arrangement and payment; every report reproducible as at any historical date.
POPIA compliance by design
Purpose attribution enforced at schema level; retention and destruction schedules configurable to client policy; an Information Security Policy covers access control, secure development, incident response and 72-hour breach notification.
Business continuity
Automated backups, multi-availability-zone deployment, documented disaster recovery with defined recovery objectives, and no dependency on any single physical office.
Reporting, audit & management information
Monthly progress reports reflect, per book and per case: balances handed over, collections to date, active and broken arrangements, disputes, deceased estates, untraceable cases, and commission calculated in terms of Annexure B of the Debt Collectors Act — including project status of defaulting debtors, intent-to-summons and judgment status, and arrear payments against trust account reconciliation. A live dashboard gives clients continuous visibility of recovery performance without waiting for month-end, and our team attends monthly management meetings on request. All reporting formats can be amended as required, and all reporting is provided on a confidential, non-disclosure basis.
Legal & regulatory compliance
All debt recovery work is conducted in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996; the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (where applicable); the Debt Collectors Act, 1998; the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013; and all other applicable laws and regulations. Where legal action is required, it is conducted by, or under the direct supervision of, admitted attorneys, with recoveries and commission calculated strictly in accordance with Annexure B (Regulation 11) of the Debt Collectors Act, 1998. No fees, charges or interest beyond those legally permitted are levied on debtors.
References
A sample of institutional clients able to speak to our debt recovery, litigation and forensic capability. Direct reference contacts are available on request.
Private Security Sector Provident Fund
Debt collection, contract law, and corporate & commercial law.
Government Pension Administration Agency
Debt collection, litigation, and pension law.
Motor Industry Bargaining Council
Debt collection, contract law, and corporate & commercial law.
High-value recovery
- Debts managed from R2.6m to R500m
- Clients spanning government, pension funds, municipalities and bargaining councils
Diverse case types
- Pension fund contributions
- Municipal and utility debts
- Staff, supplier, rental and breach-of-contract recoveries
Tailored strategy
- Accounts categorised by age, value and debtor profile
- Custom approach per account: negotiation, escalation or litigation support
Legal & forensic integration
- In-house litigation and forensic investigation capability
- Legal action initiated where necessary, backed by attorneys and consultants
Data-driven & compliant
- Advanced tracking and data-validation processes
- Regular, customised client reporting with recommendations
National reach
- Work spanning national departments, local authorities and private institutions
- Institutional and individual debtors across sectors
Open a case with our team.
Whether it's a suspected fraud, a digital forensics matter, or an account ready for recovery — tell us what you're facing and we'll come back with next steps.
Block C, 1st Floor, Bedfordview