By Mntuwekhaya Cishe
South African banks are operating in destructive mode by just closing any bank account they choose to target and the SA government is just uninterested.
The recent and concerted efforts by Standard Bank and some of the other banks in SA to have bank accounts of the Star Newspaper, Independent Media, and its related entities closed should beg numerous questions from patriotic South Africans as to, what is the real agenda of these banks and to a certain extent what is the real role of government when such tendencies continue unabated?
This new tendency by banks in South Africa to close bank accounts of certain individuals and companies has started to gain prominence during the state capture hype.
Post the state capture hype, we have seen this tendency starting to affect anyone who does not support the ‘popular views’.
The extension of this tendency to Newspaper Houses that cover all corners of society such as Independent Newspapers has no justification whatsoever.
In actual fact, it defeats the whole narrative that we have a functioning democracy in South Africa that supports media freedom.
There is no suggestion or evidence that Independent Newspaper and its related entities were ever part of state capture.
Neither have they been dragged into any court of law for corruption-related activities, not from what I always read about on the news.
Like any other newspaper house, their sin would be those minor inaccuracies in their published articles. Nothing more.
We have read a lot of inaccuracies from other newspaper houses as well, who would be compelled to apologise from time to time.
That then begs a question: What is the sin of Independent Newspaper? What have they done that would warrant their bank closure?
Why is the SA government so quiet? Why are they allowing this injustice to continue unabated?
The real impact of these bank closures is that thousands of people would be driven to the poverty lines.
The sad story about any black child who is employed is that his or her wages support up to 10 family members, of course, that differs from one household to another.
If the majority of the staff members at Independent are black, as is the case, why is the current administration who gets the most votes from the black population so uninterested?
Is there any real commitment from our government to address joblessness or unemployment?
Why has there been no interest from the current administration to seek the audience between the conflicting parties, and try to understand what these fundamental issues that would lead to such drastic measures?
As the saying goes, "Nothing will be hidden forever."
We can only hope that day comes sooner than later, before people become unemployed because of the actions of the banks
Mntuwekhaya Cishe is the Secretary General of Black Business Chamber, but writes in his personal capacity.
BUSINESS REPORT