Build One SA (Bosa) leader Mmusi Maimane says the bank bosses behind the manipulation of the rand must be criminally charged to prevent the situation from repeating itself.
Not only that, Maimane also believes that the R43-million penalty imposed on the confessed rand manipulator, Standard Chartered Bank, is miserably inadequate.
Maimane was speaking to Sunday World Engage in Johannesburg yesterday. According to former DA leader, the weakening of the rand can, however, not solely be blamed on the banking cartel.
Instead, he charged, the failures of the ANC government and endemic corruption have also contributed immensely to hardening the feelings of multinational traders when it comes to trading in South Africa.
“Anyone who manipulates currencies, that is a crime. I do think the fines are not dissuading the behaviour. I often find that sometimes the banking sector budgets for fines that are part of their business model.
“So, I would urge strongly that those involved must be prosecuted and criminally charged because that will dissuade behaviour.
“But also, you must ask the question: Why is our currency so weak? When President Ramaphosa took over, the rand was trading at R12 to the dollar, but now it is R19. As we have been grey listed, we must also put in those variables. The perceptions around corruption have also impacted how people trade with South Africa, so we must put everything in context.”
Maimane also touched on his infamous exit from the DA, saying the party had become too right-wing for his liking.
The insistence of the DA on appeasing white voters had been the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
Maimane believes he was well on course to make the DA truly multi-racial but feels that the insistence on appealing to Afrikaners hampered his mission and led to his exit.
“When in 2019 we were growing in communities, there were some who insisted that all we must do is go after Afrikaner voters so we can become a party of minorities. I said no; I did not go into politics to build another minority party,” he said.
“So, the attack on me started becoming personal; they were using Afrikaans newspapers. I decided I could not follow this vision, and that is why I left. That is why, when we say we are bulldozing one South Africa, no one in the DA claims the concept because that is not what they believe in.
“The DA was, however, a place to learn and experience. It was a good learning space, and I brought that experience to Bosa.”
Maimane believes besides the well-run and organised structure of the DA, there is nothing that the party can offer to take South Africa forward.
Although many blame DA council chairperson Helen Zille for pushing Maimane out, he would still choose Zille over incumbent DA leader John Steenhuisen, any day.
With Zille, he said, what you see is what you get, while the same cannot be said of Steenhuisen.
Said Maimane: “Based on knowing what someone’s opinion is, even if I do not like it, I think I would choose Helen because, with her, you know when she likes or does not like something. She is as straight as they come.”
Maimane believes his new party will at least collect more than two million votes in next year’s elections. He said he had been criss-crossing the country, building the party up from the ground.
