The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) has called on South Africans to boycott Capitec Bank for funding the DA only, whom it dubbed anti-black and anti-transformation.
Speaking on Sunday World Engage on Tuesday, ANCYL president Collen Malatji said progressive South Africans should boycott Capitec for only pumping funds into the opposition party’s election war chest.
But it appears Malatji could be referring to the bank’s founder Michiel le Roux who funds the official opposition through his other companies, not Capitec.
Le Roux denied that Capitec had any links with the DA.
“Capitec does not fund any political party,” the billionaire told Sunday World.
He said it was his other companies, Fynbos Ekweteit and Fynbos Kapital, that were responsible for the DA donations. Last year, after donating up to R15-million to the DA, Le Roux said he shared the party’s values. However, he would be open to funding any other party because of his loyalty to South Africa.
Yesterday, Capitec spokesperson Bronwyn Pretorious said: “Capitec does not fund or associate with any political party, including the DA.”
DA spokesperson Solly Malatsi said the ANCYL “couldn’t be so wrong”. Malatsi said the Electoral Commission’s party funding disclosure would prove the league’s “lies”.
Malatji said there was no doubt that Capitec’s blood was blue and white and supported the DA’s policies without reservation.
“Now, why must we bank our money there?” asked Malatji, whose full interview will be broadcast today at 4 pm on Sunday World’s YouTube news channel.
Malatji said it was a contradiction that while the majority of Capitec’s customers were black people, the bank funded only the DA, which he described as opposed to the policy of black economic empowerment (BEE).
“I’m going to make a clear call that all South Africans who are progressive must not bank with Capitec,” said Malatji in a wide-ranging interview.
He added: “Because Capitec is anti-BEE, Capitec is anti-affirmative action and Capitec is anti-blacks.”
He said that by having a relationship with Capitec, black people indirectly funded a political instrument used to stunt their transformative growth.
“Why must we bank with Capitec when their agenda is clear? They don’t fund any other political parties, they fund only the DA only,” said the league leader.
According to the S&P Global Ratings report in August, Capitec had total assets of R192-billion as of February 28.
Providing a low-cost alternative to large South African banks, the bank has about 20-million retail clients across all segments.
Its product offerings include funeral covers, home and car loans, prepaid airtime, small business loans and unsecured loans.
But Malatji, a proponent of the state bank, said he was not persuaded. He said banks would rather finance black people to buy a car than give them loans to start a business.
But, he said, white people get funded within 24 hours when they apply for funds to start a business.
“So it is clear that our banks are not in favour of transformation and affirmative action agenda,” he said.
He continued: “I am a full supporter of the idea that Postbank must be the state bank so that it can drive the transformative agenda and lend money at low interest rates.”
His proposal envisions that all of the government’s developmental finance institutions would be collapsed into Postbank and become one.
Regarding the SA Reserve Bank, Malatji said it was a risk to have the bank in private hands. “That is why, as a government, you cannot control interest rates or anything else. You are told about it by some partners or investors.”
He said that in any country that was geared towards development, the state must control the central bank.
“We are clear, and we succeeded at the last conference in influencing the ANC to adopt the resolution.”
“Now it is a resolution that must be implemented. Yes, the reserve bank must be nationalised, on an urgent basis,” he said.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa.
