If you were thinking that the EFF had taken a back seat to the students this past week or so they’re out in force to prove you wrong.
Party members are making their way to the JSE in Sandton with a list of 23 demands for the South African Reserve Bank. The demands are also aimed at ‘all the private banks and insurance companies’. Failure to meet these demands, the EFF say, will result in ‘their targeted and complete SHUT DOWN’.
Here’s TimesLive with all 23 of those demands:
“We‚ as South Africans‚ the unemployed‚ marginalized‚ homeless‚ the economically oppressed‚ and all of us who wish to have access to quality free education and healthcare services‚ housing‚ electricity‚ and sustainable livelihoods demands urgent economic freedom in our lifetime‚” the introduction to the EFF memorandum read…
1. Greater state intervention‚ ownership and control of the Reserve Bank given its strategic role in our economy. Private shareholders of the Reserve Bank should all concede their shares to the State without compensation.
2. Cut interest rates and abandon inflation targeting to incentivize more money into a productive and manufacturing sectors to stimulate job creation rather than speculative sectors.
3. Together with the National Treasury‚ the Reserve bank must facilitate the establishment of a State Bank‚ which will have direct relationship with the Reserve bank and be used to finance rural development and industrialisation‚ mortgage and vehicle finance and financing of small and medium enterprises and businesses.
4. Together with department of agriculture and national treasury‚ facilitate the creation of interest-free agricultural bank which will subsidize small scale agriculture and encourage millions of South Africans into productive agriculture in order to guarantee food security.
5. Recover with immediate effect all the monies and gold that was stolen before 1994 elections and continues to be stolen from the Reserve Bank in billions‚ even under the stewardship of inclusively elected government‚ and all those who are responsible must be brought to justice.
6. Investigate all private banks on price collusions‚ particularly in relation to bank charges‚ loans‚ vehicle and mortgage finance and loans.
7. Instruct private banks to stop imposing bank charges on all recipients of government grants‚ inclusive of child support‚ foster care‚ disability‚ and old age grants.
8. Instruct private banks to offer free banking services to all workers who earn less than R4500 per month.
9. All banks should remove interests on loans that are given for educational purposes.
10. All banks‚ and insurance companies should stop usage of labour brokers to employ their workers.
11. All blacklisted South Africans should be removed from the credit bureau and allowed to live their lives without dark clouds.
12. The banks should come up with ways of giving loans to entrepreneurship without insistence of collaterals because most black entrants into the economy do not have collaterals‚ but great ideas and innovations.
13. Together with the National Treasury‚ and South African Revenue Services‚ the Reserve Bank must bring immediate end to transfer mispricing and profit shifting.
14. Make public all cross-border transactions where money moves from South Africa to foreign countries in particular jurisdiction of low tax rate reported to the Reserve Bank by all banks.
15. Together with SARS‚ Financial Intelligence Centre and National Treasury start forensic investigation into aggressive tax avoidance‚ which is illegal by multinational companies with the aim of recovering the monies that were shifted from South Africa to tax havens.
16. Together with SARS‚ and National Treasury introduce regulations and legislations which will outlaw all forms of tax avoidance and profit shifting in and from South Africa.
17. Immediate end to free trade agenda for massive protection of industries and fight for a different framework for regulating trade internationally i.e. based on fairness‚ equity and solidarity.
18. Urgent action plans and programmes to undertake research to consider dual currency.
19. Re-introduce capital controls of all money which leaves the country legally or illegally‚ with the aim of making it difficult for finance capitalist to expatriate financial capital without consequences.
20. We call on the Reserve bank to closely monitor professional services companies that offer auditing and accounting service to multinational companies that exist in South Africa.
21. We also call on the South African Reserve Bank working together with the National Treasury to introduce reforms that will radically transform the insurance industry so that its control and ownership is reflective of all South Africans.
22. The Reserve Bank should work with the National Treasury to establish a State owned insurance scheme which will secure people’s cars‚ houses and other property without high premiums imposed by the privately owned insurance companies.
23. We also call for an end to insurance companies that impose disease/sickness (particularly HIV) tests as a pre-requisite to grant insurance.
Here’s a few recent tweets from the EFF’s official Twitter account, which says the march is now over 50 000 strong:
The account also quotes Malema saying that the protesters remain peaceful, adding ‘their discipline must not be taken for granted’.
Interesting times ahead folks, this one may have only just begun.
[source:timeslive]
[imagesources:twitter]
