17 October 2000
National Mobilisation to make Banking sector serve the people.
The SACP is organising a march and rally for Saturday 21st October 2000 commencing at 10am at Keisergracht, District Six, Cape Town. The march will proceed to hand in memorandums to Ministry of Finance at Parliament, corner of Roeland and Plein Streets and the Banking Council at First National Bank, Adderley Street. The march will be addressed by SACP Deputy General Secretary, Jeremy Cronin, ANC Western Cape Provincial leader, Ebrahim Rasool, and COSATU National Deputy President, Joyce Pekane. Thereafter th ere will be a rally that will be addressed by the Alliance speakers.
The campaign is being supported by COSATU and its affiliated unions, the African National Congress and a broad range of civic, community and non-governmental organisations. The Cape Town march and rally is part of a national day of action in which similar marches and rallies will take place in all the major cities and towns across South Africa.
SACP Western Cape Provincial Secretary, Gwebs Qonde, says, SACP branches and alliance structures have been working energetically to make the rally a great success. We have encountered a tremendous amount of support on the ground, from working people and al so Black business.
This National day of action takes place against the background of the following:
More than 15 million South Africans have no access to basic banking services, which should and must be available to all. The reasons for this include the fact that the banks insist that people must earn above a certain amount to open a bank account. In a country where more than 2 million employed people earn less than R1000 per month some banks require a minimum salary of R 3000 per month. In other words banks deny the right to workers and poor people to open accounts and therefore save.
Those workers who are able to open accounts face exorbitant bank charges and transaction fees, that are in fact higher than those charged to wealthier customers, who often enjoy preferential charges and perks. Interest rates charged for loans are also more favourable for those who have more money.
Red lining by banks, including in the provision of housing loans and loans for small business, is widespread and chronic. Banks often refuse to provide such services simply because a person is from a particular black industrial area or township. This amo unts to racial discrimination against black people.
Millions of poor people collect money in the form of stokvels, burial societies and savings clubs which is deposited with banking institutions. But individual members of such societies cannot get loans or use this money for community development in many ca ses the money is only available for the funerals. However banking institutions do not invest this money which collectively exceeds R10 billion or even a small percentage of it in projects in Black communities.
Denied access to credit from banks, many people are obliged to resort to micro lending institutions where they face extremely exploitative interest rates in some instances up to 30% a month.
Added to this are the operations of the so-called Credit Bureaux. Thousands of people have been blacklisted by these Credit Bureaux that operate without any effective regulation. When someone is blacklisted by a Credit Bureau, for example after becoming u nemployed, they often remain blacklisted even when they have settled their debts.
The SACP says that we must take action to make the banks serve the people.
We are calling for:
For further comment, contact Gwebs Qonde, Provincial Secretary at 4487908 or 082
7059457.
South African Communist Party
Western Cape Provincial Office
Tel : 27 (021) 4487908 Fax : 27 (021) 4477167
Email : sacpwc@icon.co.za
Community House, 41 Salt River Road, Salt River 7925
PO Box 40, Woodstock, 7915