Floyd Shivambu read out the Economic Freedom Fighters’ memorandum of demands to the CEO of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Here is the full text of the memorandum:
EFF memorandum to Johannesburg Stock Exchange: 27 October 2015
We the Economic Freedom Fighters, on behalf of all South Africans, young and old, poor and economically marginalized who wish to have access to decent housing, quality free healthcare services and education, quality drinking water, access to participate in the economy, food on the table, decent wage and sustainable employment, demand urgent economic freedom in our lifetime. Economic Freedom in our lifetime means total achievement of Freedom Charter objectives and the 7 Cardinal Pillars for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime, particularly on transfer of wealth to the ownership of the people of South Africa as a whole.
The Johannesburg Stock of Exchange is recipient of the Economic Freedom Mass Action because it houses substantial majority of capital in South Africa. The JSE’s ownership and control partners are in no way reflective of South Africa population. It is a fact that black people own less than 19 percent of the JSE equity, of which black females own 6 percent. Less than 10 percent of South Africans’ black and African population, which is more than 90 percent of the population of South Africa, has real and direct ownership and control of shares in the JSE. Historically, businesses and corporations represented in the JSE played a role in the economic exclusion, suppression and subjugation of colonial and apartheid white supremacy. The JSE therefore carries an uncontested obligation to undo the injustice of the past that it continues to perpetuate even to this day.
We come here carrying the burden of the millions of the economically excluded, subjugated, oppressed, exploited and depressed South Africans in the Economic Freedom Mass Action under the leader the Economic Freedom Fighters to make the following demands:
To the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, we demand the following:
1. All companies in the JSE should move towards socialization of their ownership, meaning that they should give real and meaningful shares to their employees, who will in turn receive dividends at the end of each financial year. A minimum of 51% of all JSE companies should be owned and controlled by workers. This is different from the BEE schemes which empower fewer individuals.
2. All companies represented in the JSE must introduce a minimum wage of R4500 for all their workers, and taking into consideration the sectoral minimum wages contained in the EFF Elections Manifesto, which are:
1.Mineworkers: R12 500 per month.
2.Farm workers: R5000 per month.
3.Manufacturing workers: R6500.
4.Retail Workers (Cashiers and Retail Store Assistants): R5000.
5.Builders: R7000.
6.Petrol Attendants: R5000
7.Cleaners: R4500
8.Domestic Workers: R4500
9.Private Security Guards: R7500.
10.Full time Waiters and Waitresses: R4500.
3. All companies in the JSE should ban labour brokers, and permanently employ their workers with proper medical aid and retirement benefits.
4. All JSE companies and all companies in South Africa should implement the principle of equal work for equal pay for all workers irrespective of race, class and background.
5. All companies and corporations that have majority of its businesses in South Africa should have the primary listing in the JSE and their Head Offices in South Africa.
6. All companies in the JSE must procure the upstream and downstream goods and services from township and rural based economic role players owned by historically disadvantaged individuals.
7. All the retail stores in the JSE should source a minimum of 70% of their goods and services from South African producers, particularly food, confectionery, beverages, textile, leather, furniture, plastic, and many other basic products that are traded in South Africa.
8. Urgent action plans and programmes from all companies and corporations in the JSE on how to increase and sustain the labour-absorptive capacity of their companies. Thoroughly drafted human resources, skills transfer, and training and education provision with sustainable care programmes should accompany this.
9. Each and every company in the JSE should adopt a minimum of 5 schools in townships and rural areas and make that each adopted school has access to quality services, including computer labs, laboratories, libraries and access to high speed internet.
10. Each and every listed company with the total turnover of R1 billion and above should adopt one of the Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Colleges and assist with all the basic necessities of a TVET college.
11. Each and every company in the JSE should adopt a minimum of 100 students and assist with their higher education and training programmes and bursaries from registration, tuition, residence, food, books, and transport money for their adopted students.
12. All companies in the JSE should make massive investments in all parts of South Africa with the aim of decentralizing economic activities and industrial programmes to all parts of the country.
13. Urgent action plans on how to decentralize South Africa’s economic development from the existing centers of economic development to other parts of the country.
14. Urgent development and implementation of Corporate Social Investment Plans, which will bring real value and benefits to communities where business operations happen.
15. All JSE companies should have all their trading bank accounts with South African banks and should be willing to be subjected to scrutiny on illicit financial flows, transfer pricing and profit shifting.
16. End to expatriation of profits to developed countries, and mandate all companies and corporations to declare publicly transactions between subsidiaries in details for the tax authorities to access necessary information to collect maximum tax due to public purse.
17. All JSE companies should commit to usage of South African based professional services, such as those for auditing, accounting, legal, marketing and all other basic services.
The demands to the JSE are directed to all companies that are listed in the JSE, and we expect responses from each and every of the listed companies, and their failure will lead to a directed action against the identified companies. All the companies should submit their detailed response and plan on each and every of our demand within the 30 days, and failure to do so will mean that these companies are enemies of the struggle for economic freedom.
The JSE is instructed to play a role in the transformation and transfer of South Africa’s wealth. The economic subjugation, oppression and exploitation of the black majority and Africans in particular happened under the stewardship and with approval of the white big capital. To address these injustices, white big capital must play a role.
These demands are genuine and should be acceded to with immediate effect, because majority of South Africans cannot wait any longer, and it is not for the first time the JSE receive such memorandum.
IOL