Reacting to the bank's turnaround strategy presentation to the National Assembly's land and agriculture committee, ANC MP Salam Abram said it would be difficult for the bank to survive its current crisis.
"All these problems listed in the turn-around strategy are an indication that the bank is on its way to oblivion. It's a sign that the time for closing shop is not very far unless something drastic happens," he said.
Earlier on Tuesday, Land Bank acting chief executive Saki Zamxaka had told MPs that the bank, whose board was last year dissolved by Land Affairs Minister Lulu Xingwana, amid allegations of fraud amounting to millions of rand, had a plan in place that would see it spring back to stability and profitability.
However, Abram dismissed objectives contained in the plan as a wish list. He said the bank's failure to investigate circumstances surrounding the disappearance of millions of rand allegedly diverted to unauthorised projects; its "tainted" image; and the changing of chief executive officers were some of the critical problems that would
jeopardise the plan.
"How do you expect people to have any faith in you," he said. DA MP Kraai Van Niekerk concurred with Abram, saying the bank had to undergo a full forensic audit before embarking on any grand plans. "The only way we can have a clean slate is through conducting a full forensic audit of the whole bank and go to the core of what went wrong," he said.
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