I feel a bit like the last hyena to arrive at the kill this week. The whole sorry FNB carcase has been so thoroughly picked over, gnawed at and regurgitated that there isn't much left for me and even the vultures have moved on, preferring the rich pickings of the Nkandla kill. But there are still a couple of bones to grind so here goes.
It's hard to believe that the whole FNB business wasn't an intentional publicity stunt. I say that because FNB and its parent FirstRand are highly sophisticated operators and nothing gets done at a large corporate without being first signed off by someone in a high position. That rule is central to the very notion of corporate job preservation. So to even suggest that an expensive advertising campaign could be launched for a major bank like FNB without a single senior executive of that bank signing the project off beggars belief.
I have to say that had I been a senior executive at FNB I would have certainly signed the project off knowing full well that it might cause rather more than ripples among certain members of our beloved ruling party. I doubt whether even I would have anticipated the blind rage shown by the ANC's bully in chief, Gwede Mantashe, but even if I had it would have been a risk worth taking.
The advertising campaign (for those of you who may have slipped in and out of a coma this past week) simply involved getting young, mostly black South Africans to talk about their hopes and expectations for the future. The comments were apparently unscripted and weren't particularly surprising given the political climate in the country.
This is obviously why certain elements of the ANC, ably lead by the frothing and spitting Mantashe, labelled the whole campaign as "treasonous". It was, of course, nothing of the sort but if you happen to be member of a political party with a reputation for sleaze and little else then the comments would undoubtedly have rubbed a scab off an ever festering sore.
The ANC made clear its feelings about the FNB ad, carefully avoiding any rational debate or discussion, and the poor bank were forced to issue what the media has gleefully interpreted as a grovelling apology. Bearing in mind the viciousness of the ANC and the fact that the children who had been filmed making the comments were all easily identifiable I think FNB did the right thing. I wouldn't put it past the ANC to compile dossiers on those involved in order to victimise them at some future date. The party's capacity for evil appears to know no bounds.