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The EFF is horrified by the revelations made by the Executive Manager of grants administration at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) that Grindrod Bank is going to impose R10 bank charges on beneficiaries of SASSA withdrawing their subsidiary. Grindrod contract relations with SASSA exist primarily because of a February 2012 contract which the Constitutional Court in September 2013 found to be invalid.

Grindrod is owned by Johan Rupert, who despite being a greedy and callous capitalist, he still submits tenders to the State at the expense of poor beneficiaries of social grants. Johan Rupert, who owns Grindrod through Remgro also owns First Rand Bank, Mediclinic, Unilever, Distell, RCL Foods, Outsurance, Discovery, eMedia Investment which own ENCA and e.tv, and asset management company PGS Investments amongst many others.

The EFF has already written to the South African Reserve Bank, SASSA and National Treasury to question the legitimacy of Grindrod’s contract. If Grindrod continues with this outrageous intent to impose bank charges on poor people in an illegitimate contract after making billions throughout the existence of the contract, the EFF will close all Remgro businesses and take out Remgro products from all retail stores.

The final and sustainable solution is a state bank, which will clear grants money to all beneficiaries without subjecting them to bank charges when it is evident that the little they get from grants is the difference between poverty, starvation and death.

The EFF has already drafted an explanatory memorandum to amend the Banks Act to allow for state-owned companies to conduct business of a bank and ensure that Post Bank is a fully fledged bank with a commercial licence to conduct businesses of a bank. With the assistance of the National Assembly, the memorandum will be published for public comments in due course. 

Issued by EFF