Malema opposes complaint

JULIUS Malema, the president of the EFF, has lodged a notice of intention to oppose a formal complaint against him in the Equality Court.

During a recent media briefing in Johannesburg, Malema said there was an Indian cabal in South Africa. He said they occupied strategic positions at the expense of Africans.

Malema said: “Go to every insurance company or any financial institution, it is headed by Indians. If it is a serious compromise, it is a coloured. All Africans are being destroyed. Look at who is going to replace that African person that was removed from Absa.”

He said this was because “white monopoly capital cannot go direct”.

“It works hand-in-hand like it did in the 80s. It works with an Indian cabal, led by Pravin Gordhan.”

Last Monday, Narendh Ganesh, a community activist, lodged a formal complaint at the Equality Court. He accused the EFF leader of hate speech. Ganesh said some of Malema’s comments were tantamount to hate speech and had the propensity to incite violence.

“Making blanket statements that cast cynical aspersions on a particular race group does little to enhance the racial and social cohesion we all desire,” said Ganesh.

Following Malema’s claims about financial institutions, the POST approached some of the leading banks and the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) on who headed them.

Of the five banks approached, Indians were not among the executives.

Three Indians were among those in top positions at the Sarb.

♦ Absa Bank: Jason Quinn was appointed as the interim chief executive officer of Absa Group Limited in April. This follows Daniel Mminele, the former chief executive officer, stepping down. Punki Modise has been the interim financial director since April.

♦ Nedbank: Michael William Thomas Brown has been the chief executive since March 2010. Michael Davis has been the chief financial officer since October last year, and Mfundo Clement Nkuhlu has been the chief operating officer since January 2015.

♦ Standard Bank: Simphiwe “Sim” Tshabalala has been the chief executive of Standard Bank South Africa since 2008. In 2013, he was appointed the joint group chief executive of the Standard Group, alongside Ben Kruger. In 2017, Tshabalala took over as the sole group chief executive officer. Arno Daehnke has been the group’s chief finance and value management officer since January.

♦ Capitec Bank: Gerhardus Metselaar Fourie has been the chief executive officer and executive director of Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd since January 2014. André Pierre du Plessis is the chief financial officer, financial director and executive director of Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd. He is also the chief financial officer and executive director at Capitec Bank Ltd, a subsidiary of Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd.

♦ First National Bank: Jacques Celliers has been the chief executive of FNB since January 2014.

♦ Sarb: Lesetja Kganyago was appointed Governor of the Sarb in November 2014. He was reappointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa for a second five-year term in November 2019.

Kuben Naidoo is a deputy governor of the Sarb, the chief executive of the Prudential Authority, and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee.

Nomfundo Tshazibana and Dr Rashad Cassim were also appointed as deputy governors of the Sarb and are members of the Monetary Policy Committee. Mogam Pillay is the chief operating officer.

Lubna Nadvi, a political scientist and analyst in the school of social sciences at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said that when making statements and claims, political leaders must ensure that what they say was based on fact and statistics. She said it must not be based on opinion or propaganda.

“If Julius Malema claims that Indians are employed in strategic positions at banks, he needs to clarify which banks, which positions and why such positions are strategic. In addition, the public needs to ask itself what is the purpose of the leader of the EFF making such statements.

“Is it to point out that Indians work hard and are therefore able to succeed in their careers, or is it to imply that such positions should not be held by South Africans of Indian origin? And if it is the latter, then what is the rationale for Indians not to hold such positions?”

Nadvi said if evidence indicated that Indian South Africans do not hold strategic positions at banks, Malema would need to retract his statements and apologise for making false claims.

Professor Dirk Kotze, of the Department of Political Sciences at Unisa, said: “It is not clear what Malema’s intentions are, but over time he has targeted Pravin Gordhan in particular. Especially, earlier in Parliament, it appeared as if Gordhan had to fill the gap left by former president Jacob Zuma as the EFF’s main target. President Cyril Ramaphosa was then not such an easy target and therefore the EFF looked for an alternative.”

Kotze said other government officials were also alleged targets of the EFF.

“Later, one of the senior Treasury officials, Ismail Momoniat, was also targeted because of his frequent appearances in Parliament. Trevor Manuel, the former finance minister, was also earmarked by them because of his involvement in the appointment of new Sars head Edward Kieswetter

“The common denominator among all of them is that they are involved in either finance, the Treasury, or Sars.

“Suggestions are often made that the EFF is concerned about the information they might have of the EFF’s or its leaders’ finances and tax situation. In summary, these persons might know too much and therefore be a threat for the EFF.”

Lukhona Mnguni, a lecturer in the school of social sciences and a researcher at the Maurice Webb Race Relations Unit at UKZN, said: “Julius Malema’s views are a reflection of various issues that concern him that eventually get mixed up together. He then utters totalising statements.

“Part of his and the EFF’s thorny point has to do with Pravin Gordhan, and at times, to inflame their political speech towards him, they bestow on him somewhat unearned or bizarre superpowers for their statements to generate dislike towards Gordhan.”

Mnguni said he did not think Malema’s statements were intended to incite violence or hate.

“It is rather to spark rage and outrage against Gordhan, who is seemingly practising some nepotism and favouritism to people of his racial group. However, at a broad level, I am uncertain these statements are much more than the political noise of the moment as there is no concrete programme that intends to address this identified problem.”