Morning Star.png Government Must Act on Banking Boycott, says COSATU The Morning Star, London, 23 April 2016 South Africa's biggest trade union federation backed government intervention yesterday to save 7,500 jobs threatened by a banking boycott of the wealthy Gupta family. The future of the Guptas' mining investment firm Oakbay and its employees was thrown into doubt earlier this month when South Africa's "big four" banks and auditor KPMG simultaneously announced they would no longer do business with the family. Absa, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank all closed Oakbay's accounts over allegations that the Gupta family wielded too great an influence over the African National Congress (ANC) government and President Jacob Zuma. "This unprecedented decision by the banks needs to be reviewed because workers' livelihoods are at stake," said Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) spokesman Sizwe Pamla. "We refuse to allow workers to be victims of corporate conflicts." The Gupta family also owns The New Age, South Africa's only pro-ANC media outlet. Oakbay non-executive chairman Atul Gupta and chief executive Varun Gupta, who are brothers, resigned "with immediate effect" following the banks' decision. Last week Banking Association South Africa denied that the banks had acted in unison against the business family. Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Thursday that Mineral Resources Minister Mosebenzi Zwane, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan are meeting the banks to try to resolve the crisis. COSATU and the South African Communist Party (SACP) will march in Durban today to call for "transformation of the financial sector" among a raft of issues. From: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-9fa5-South-Africa-State-must-act-on-ban king-boycott#.VxsO2vl9600 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
