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Cape Argus reports that the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has condemned Standard Bank’s decision to sever ties with Independent Media (IOL).
Saftu national spokesperson Trevor Shaku accused the banking sector of serving the interests of the dominant capitalist faction and not caring that the negative consequences of the move would affect workers. He said: “The siege of Independent Media by the hypocritical commercial banks will rob the media landscape of press diversity, lead to retrenchments, and open a space for other narratives to be hegemonic.” The statement from Saftu followed that by the Insurance and Banking Staff Association (Ibsa), a union representing workers in the banking sector, which on Wednesday issued a statement slamming Standard Bank’s decision. The decision by Standard Bank followed a threat from a number of commercial banks to cut ties with the Sekunjalo Group of Companies’ (Sekunjalo) chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé. Although Standard Bank, in its official statement, did not disclosed the reasons for severing ties with the company, other banks cited “reputational risk”. This is something Sekunjalo as a group is challenging through several interrelated legal actions. Shaku said that like any media group, Independent Media employed a wide range of workers, and in the interim as Independent was forced to make alternative arrangements to pay its staff, the workers would be affected or inconvenienced by non-payments. He said if all banks, including Nedbank (against which Sekunjalo had an interim interdict prohibiting it from closing its accounts) succeeded in cutting ties with Sekunjalo and its linked companies, the business might close and the workers would be retrenched.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mwangi Githahu at Cape Argus
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