Absa must fall – Maine

Pretoria – ANC Youth League president Collen Maine says Absa Bank is responsible for the strain that the rand is under and for that, "the bank must fall".

Maine visited the Absa branch at The Grove Mall in Pretoria on Monday, where he closed his account and moved his finances to a different bank.

"Absa must fall. They are colluding to bring down our economy," he said shortly after coming out of the bank.

Maine said Barclays, which owns Absa, did not have the interests of the country at heart and was responsible for the collapse in December.

"Barclays is a key role player in sabotaging our economy. It is not a South African [bank] and they have no interest in our country and economy. They are manipulating and sabotaging our economy. But anyone who wants to undermine our country will meet the full might of the ANC Youth League. We will collapse the bank," he said.

'We will bring it down'

Maine said the league would mobilise the youth to march to the bank and encourage people to withdraw their savings. He added that they would bring the banking institution to its knees.

"We will mobilise around 50 000 youth to march against Absa. We will call on everyone else to join to show that we are proud South Africans and we will fight for our country. The business of Absa is not our business and we don’t care how they will cope afterwards. Absa must fall. We will bring it down,” he said.

Maine said they would be speaking to government to look at the possibility of a state-owned bank that would have the interests of the country at heart.

"In the long run, we want the ANC government to look at the possibility of a state-owned bank that will have the interests of South Africa," said Maine. 

Absa could not immediately comment on the matter.

This article first appeared on News24 – see here.