21 October 2000
The people of South Africa have spoken banks and the financial sector as a whole must be transformed (The demands submitted to government and banks and figures for marches and pickets and a list of supporting organisations are attached at the end of this s tatement).
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is thrilled at the overwhelming success of the 14 marches and 5 pickets we led today in all provinces of our country. Despite bad weather in many areas, thousands of ordinary people turned out in large numbers to su pport the SACP led campaign to transform and diversify the banks and financial sector as a whole. Reports poured in throughout the day about how our people from outlying and rural areas (particularly in the North West, Northern and Western Cape provinces) traveled long distances to join the marches and pickets. All in all close to 40 000 people all throughout the country sacrificed their Saturday morning break to join these marches and pickets. This Red Saturday was preceded by a build-up week of action in parts of our country. During the mobilisation process, many of our people gave anecdotal evidence of the frustrations they had in their attempts to use banking services.
All these marches and events were also joined and endorsed by a wide range of organisations representing many sections of our people. These include our alliance partners, local burial societies, savings clubs, trade unions, NGOs, co-operatives, and small b usinesses. This demonstrates how many of our people are affected by indifferent and exploitative capitalist financial institutions.
The success of today's mass action clearly demonstrates how the still un-transformed banks undermine the daily lives and struggles of our people for a better life. Through today's actions, transformation and diversification of the financial sector has been firmly placed on the national agenda. Our people are running out of patience with the anti-transformation agenda of the financial sector.
This Red Saturday is only the first step in an ongoing mass mobilisation campaign. We are actually giving banks a chance to be part of the solution through the NEDLAC process. Without satisfactory results, we will be calling on our people to step up popula r mobilisation directed at banks. We will also call on government to take an even stronger, more interventionist approach in future
On our part, the SACP will go out on extensive consciousness building, engagement with, and mobilisation amongst all our people across the length and breadth of our country collecting information about how banks undermine our people and people's demands fo r the transformation and the diversification of the financial sector. This will precede the SACP proposed National People's Conference on the Transformation and Diversification of the Financial Sector, which will precede a NEDLAC Summit (as demanded by the SACP).
As the SACP, we are pleased at the level of popular and conscious support we enjoy amongst our people, which was shown both before and during the events of today. Indeed, as the first SACP (independently) led nation-wide marches and pickets in close to 45 years, the Red Saturday marches and pickets were an unqualified success. Through today's activities, our people have clearly demonstrated their confidence in the struggle for socialism and in the SACP, as the leading political force of the South African wo rking class. This lays a solid foundation for continuing to build a stronger and revolutionary SACP in line with the objectives of our Red October Campaign. The success of this campaign is despite the conscious and deliberate boycott by sections of the bos ses+IBk- media (mainly print media) who went all out to ensure an almost complete media blackout on the mobilisation for the campaign and the events of today. We thank our people for coming out as they did, despite this deliberate media boycott.
SUMMARY OF THE MEMORANDA SUBMITTED TO GOVERNMENT AND THE BANKING COUNCIL
Through memoranda submitted to representatives of the South African government and the Banking Council of South Africa, our people raised the following demands.
1. Government must take urgent steps to develop and pass appropriate legislation in order to establish address adequate policy, legal and financial frameworks for the building and strengthening of co-operatives, co-operative and public banking sectors tran sformation and diversification of the financial sector in line with our country's developmental objectives community re-investment by banks. and the diversification of the financial sector.
2. The urgent convening by NEDLAC of a summit on the financial sector, as an inclusive stakeholder sectoral summit to map out a strategy to transform the sector.
3. The SACP calls for an immediate moratorium on redlining and the classification of black residential areas and productive enterprises as high-risk or non-creditworthy. The SACP calls for an immediate end to racism and sexism and discrimination against th e working class in general in the lending practices of banks. Given that banks have failed to change so far, and given that we know they are only driven by profit maximisation, we do not however have confidence in banks to implement these demands. It is fo r this reason that we are calling for a NEDLAC Summit to ensure that fundamental changes are effected.
4. Government must, in consultation with the people, identify ways in which government owned financial institutions, like the DBSA, IDC, Khula, Land Bank and the Postbank can be made more effective in serving the developmental needs of the people.
5. The urgent and immediate investigation of the functioning of the Credit Bureaus with the intention to developing appropriate legal measures in order to regulate the functioning of Credit Bureaus.
6. We also call on government to facilitate access to information and services in respect of dealing with cases of unfair discrimination in the financial sector as whole. We acknowledge that unfair discrimination must be dealt with under the provisions of the Promotion of Equality and Prohibition of Unfair Discrimination Act, and other statutory bodies such as the South African Human Rights Commission or other appropriate bodies. Therefore, we also call on all our people to register their legitimate cases using these statutory tools and to continue with disciplined popular mobilisation f or the fundamental transformation and diversification of the financial sector.
The deadline the SACP gave to the South African government and the Banking Council for considered and positive replies is by 16 December 2000.
SUMMARY OF FIGURES FOR MARCHES AND PICKETS
The numbers below indicate minimum figures based on our own estimations checked with the police and media representatives present at the different events.
MARCHES
1. Durban - 10 000
2. Johannesburg - 5000
3. Cape Town - 5000
4. Pietersburg - 3000
5. Klerksdorp - 3000
6. Nelspruit - 2000
7. Witbank - 1500
8. Port Elizabeth - 1000
9. Welkom - 1000
10. Upington - 700
11. Kimberley - 500
12. East London - 500
13. Bloemfontein - 500
14. Pietermaritzburg - 500
Total - 34 200
PICKETS
1. Queenstown - 300
2. Umtata - 250
3. Lusikisiki - 250
4. Knysna - 100
5. Uitenhage - 100
Total - 1000
LIST OF SUPPORTING ORGANISATIONS
1. African National Congress
2. Congress of South African Trade Unions
3. COSATU Affiliates
4. South African National Civics Organisation
5. SA NGO Coalition
6. Treatment Action Campaign
7. National African Federated Chamber of Commerce
8. SA Spaza and Tuckshops Association
9. SA Credit Co-operatives League
10. 1 million Women Savings Movement
11. SA Council of Churches - Northern Province
12. Federated Chamber of African Business
13. Gauteng Hawkers Association
14. Hundreds of locally based community co-operatives and organisations
CONTACT
Mazibuko K. Jara (surname Jara)
Department of Media, Information and Publicity - South African Communist Party
Tel - 011 339-3621/2 - Fax - 011 339-4244
Cell - 083 651 0271 - Email - sacp1@wn.apc.org