19 December 2000
The SACP is deeply concerned at the growth of the illegal pyramid schemes. We wish to call on all our people not to allow themselves to be used by unscrupulous elements in our society who want to get rich through illegal and immoral means. These schemes ar e nothing but devious means by greedy characters to take away workers hard-earned money to enrich themselves. We also wish to warn our people that the promise of getting rich quick is a false promise. We are particularly concerned that these illegal scheme s will be even more active at this time when our people divide their year's savings in stokvels as well as bonuses for workers.
The SACP is firmly of the view that the growth of these schemes is not just a product of these unscrupulous elements, but is also reinforced by the growing cult of greed fostered and inculcated by amongst others, the media. We wish to particularly highligh t the negative role played by the public broadcaster itself in promoting these values of greed and get rich instantly. We would have expected that the public broadcaster in particular would nurture the kinds of values that will collectively advance the sol idarity and interests of our people.
The SACP, instead, calls on our people to join us in the struggle for the transformation of the financial sector so that it is better able to serve the needs of our people, through investment in job-creating ventures, accessible housing bonds and banking s ervices, as well as the creation of co-operative ventures in the financial sector. It is the SACP's belief that there is no short-cut in addressing the needs of our people other than the radical transformation of the financial sector, in particular the ban ks, to address the pressing needs of our society. Our people should rather be focusing on how to create a culture of saving in our society, and how to creatively use those savings, whether it be bank savings or stokvels, to address poverty and developmenta l needs.
We also call upon the law enforcement agencies to act swiftly to arrest and prosecute the masterminds behind these illegal schemes. Those opportunistic politicians and parliamentarians who support these schemes and see them as a base for instant popular su pport should be treated no differently to those unscrupulous elements behind these schemes. But much more importantly this requires a concerted effort by all organs of state and political organisations to embark on education and awareness programmes to ens ure that our people are not duped into these activities.
For further information contact
Solly Mapaila
E-mail: sacp1@wn.apc.org