CAPITEC BANK reported an 84% rise in its annual profit, joining a slew of South African lenders who benefited from an upswing in performance as the impact from the COVID-19 fallout eases. South African banks took massive hits to their profit in recent years, mainly due to large credit impairment charges related to the health crisis and associated government lockdowns. Lenders are now returning to pre-pandemic levels of performance as restrictions ease. Profit at Capitec, the country's largest retail bank by customer numbers, surpassed 2019 levels in the year ended Feb. 28. Its headline earnings per share - the main profit…