Cyril talks tough on graft, mum on banks, Phala Phala
AFTER the country lost trillions of rand following the suspected collusion of 28 major banks, many ANC followers were confident party president Cyril Ramaphosa would speak on the matter when delivering the January 8 Statement in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, on Saturday.
According to the Competition Commission, Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank, FirstRand, Investec, Standard Americas, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Commerz Bank (Germany), Macquarie Bank (Australia), Barclays, Bank of America, HSBC Bank, Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner and Smith, JP Morgan Chase and Credit Suisse Securities (US) are alleged to have colluded to weaken the SA rand between 2007 and 2013. The alleged conduct relates to fixing and manipulating the rand/dollar exchange rate.
Independent Media recently reported that last year, the Competition Tribunal ruled it had jurisdiction to hear the “Forex Cartel case”, and dismissed a second round of exceptions and objections, and struck out applications brought by various banks in response to the Competition Commission's updated complaint referral, or charge sheet.
However, a week ago, the Competition Appeal Court dismissed the cases against most of the 28 banks.
At the ANC rally, attended by almost 70 000, some members questioned why Ramaphosa and the party's National Executive Committee had not spoken against the the banks collusion during the delivery of the speech.
Msebenzi Mathole, an ANC loyalist, said: “I'm disappointed that the president did not speak about how we are going to rebut the bank's situation. The country has lost a lot of money and we don't know how the country is going to approach this…”
An elderly woman from Bushbuckridge asked why Ramaphosa would talk of crime, but not mention how the Phala Phala matter was resolved.
“I don't know how and when the money was stolen. I don't know why that happened. My worry is that it looks like the matter was swept under the carpet … so please, he must say something on the matter.”
Ramaphosa has talked tough against corruption, saying: “Corruption in government, business and society is criminal activity. It detracts from the government's ability to improve the conditions of those living in poverty and to transform society. Corruption is counter-revolutionary. We disassociate ourselves from those who are corrupt, commit serious crimes, abuse women and children and are involved in sexual harassment.”
Reflecting on the day's events, UWC adjunct political science professor Keith Gottschalk said: “In an election year, the ANC's 8th January statement naturally becomes a forerunner of its election manifesto and election campaign. President Ramaphosa's statement summarised the major achievements of the ANC government, such as building 4 800 000 houses given away free to homeless families, and the social relief of distress grant given to millions more.
“He called for consequences for municipal officials responsible for sewage running in the streets, and lack of rubbish removal.”
The celebrations did not come without their fair share of controversy on the day.
The Ehlanzeni Region in Mbombela, Mpumalanga, had instructed its branches to boycott the January 8 event.
The disgruntled members of the ANC accused officials of ignoring a multimillion-rand smart city project that has been in limbo for years.
ANC zonal election official, Mandla Mhlanga, said: “We are not not going to participate in any activities of the ANC today or any other time until the president comes to see the Nkosi City development project that never got off the ground.” Mhlanga said.
According to residents, the project was supposed to solve problems of unemployment and poverty in the area, since they were policies of the party.
ANC Youth League ward 2 secretary, Prudence Soko, mirrored Mhlanga's assertions, saying the youth wing of the party had taken the same resolution.