IRR questions banks on where they stand on EWC

‘Are you willing to unapologetically join the IRR in its campaign to ensure that the property rights and the financial interests of your clients are protected against policies that will harm them?’

This is among the questions that the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) has put to South Africa’s major banks. 

In a statement, the IRR says that while the ANC made it clear at its weekend Policy Conference ‘that it is not backing down on its desire to implement Expropriation without Compensation (EWC) … major banks in the country have yet to declare where they stand on the matter’. 

The Institute notes that President Cyril Ramaphosa told the conference that ‘(we) must undertake to make a dramatic, as well as a disruptive, lasting change’, adding that ‘despite the setback of our efforts to amend Section 25 of our [sic] Constitution, we must continue to pursue all available options, including through legislation, like the Expropriation Bill, to implement the resolution of our 54th Conference on land redistribution without compensation’.

The IRR says it ‘finds it deeply concerning that the major banks have not said anything in response to these and other recent ANC statements on EWC’. 

For this reason, the Institute had written to the banks seeking answers to the following questions: 

1. Do you support the property rights of South Africans?

2. Do you consider the financial interests of your clients to be connected to their property rights?

3. Will you make it clear to South Africans that you are willing to stand up for their financial interests, as your moral and fiduciary responsibility is to act on behalf of your clients?

4. Are you willing to unapologetically join the IRR in its campaign to ensure that the property rights and the financial interests of your clients are protected against policies that will harm them?

Said Mlondi Mdluli, IRR Campaign Manager: ‘EWC will have severe consequences for the country, as it poses a major threat to property rights and the economy. The IRR will not sit back and fold its arms while the incompetent ANC government destroys South Africa. We cannot allow our beautiful country to be turned into another Zimbabwe or Venezuela under our watch!’