CAPE TOWN - The Youth Business Chain is concerned about “the politically motivated and racial profiling of the progressive Sekunjalo Group and other black-owned companies” and has called on companies owned by young people to suspend their trading with such banks “if this frivolous behaviour continues”.
It said in a statement: “We are highly aware that there is a political agenda to collapse anything related to the Sekunjalo Investment Group and also putting a huge risk to collapse more than 40 000 jobs of mostly young people employed in this group.”
The Youth Business Chain called for the establishment of a state-owned commercial bank, stating that the big four banks in South Africa were “controlled by politicians to suit their ambitions”.
“This is where the problem started, instead of changing the banking sector and forming a state-owned commercial bank,” it said.
It said ABSA included banks like Volkskas Bank, “which funded apartheid”, and other banks had “aided and abetted apartheid”. It said FNB was mostly owned by the Rand Merchant Bank, “a Remgro subsidiary owned by the certain family”, while Nedbank, it said, was a bank of Nederland, “the country of Jan van Riebeeck and the Dutch East Indian company: the original coloniser”.
“Is it not a crime against the fearless spirit of our forefathers that only 1% of the entire financial service sector is controlled by indigenous Africans?
“All these banks control your trillions that go in and out of government and ensure that no young and previously disadvantaged control the financial service sector. Because some political leaders have shares in these banks and influence, the banks are heavily protected by the Reserve Bank and apparently they are too big to fail,” it added.
“Unfortunately the mistake we continue to make is to assume that being black is enough to make our leaders conscious when the consciousness they know is that of money.”
The Youth Business Chain added: “We are calling on Nedbank and their friends to suspend their frivolous attack on Sekunjalo and other progressive black business or we will be forced to recall all youth-owned companies and individuals to immediately suspend their trading with your business (which) has been in the forefront of profiling black companies.”
Cape Times