MKMVA condemns the ongoing exploitation by major banks and financial institutions of black South Africans
28 April 2021
The Treasurer General of MKMVA, comrade Des Van Rooyen, speaking today at the Long walk to Freedom March In Katlehong, in honor of comrade Chris Hani, reiterated that Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) condemns the ongoing, uncontested actions by the major banks and financial institutions as they remain untransformed for many years.
Comrade Van Rooyen said that the big banks, with specific reference to the likes of Absa and First National Bank SA, are quick to close the accounts of many a successful black business, citing “reputational risk”. He pointed out that FNB in particular, “does not have to show justified cause” for terminating a banking contract with any individual, nor company.
Comrade Van Rooyen said: “We are aware that many black homeowners, are being red flagged by racist banks. Black homeowners are paying higher interest rates on their home loans than their white counterparts. No empathy nor compassion was shown to black homeowners who lost their jobs or only received a percentage of their salaries during the COVID-19 period”.
Last year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic the then Minister of Small Business Development, comrade Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, had to make the shameful admission that the major benefactors of COVID-19 relief funds were white entrepreneurs, and that black small and medium size businesses were almost totally disregarded by the major banks who were administering the funds. Evidently the hundreds of billions of Rand in Covidrelief funds were never intended to service black South Africans.