ABSA Bad Debts Hurt Barclays

Buried in this article on the mounting losses in British banking is this little nugget:

Barclays is forecast to reveal a 35% drop in profits to £2.6 billion as bad debts around the world, particularly in South Africa, combine with further losses from its exposure to the credit markets.

Now Barclays are the majority shareholders in ABSA so I assume it's ABSA that is the problem. And yet in the local press ABSA and the other banks are continuing to claim that there's nothing wrong and their bad debts are still at record lows, despite the fact they are canceling already approved bonds! I have a feeling the SA banking industry is being less than forthcoming.