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Cape Town – Standard Bank said on Tuesday that it respects Oakbay employees’ constitutional right to protest the move by banks to blacklist the Gupta-owned company.
Standard Bank representative Joshua Zwane told about 200 protesters in Johannesburg that the bank acknowledges and appreciates their concerns and will respond to the memorandum that requests banks re-open their bank accounts.
“You are exercising your constitutional right, which we respect as a Standard Bank group,” he said. “We receive your memorandum and give you our commitment that we will come back to you and respond to the matters that you have raised.”
His response echoed that of FNB and Absa, whose representatives also welcomed the memorandum from Oakbay employees on Tuesday, with the same response that they would respond to their concerns.
About 7 500 employees could lose their jobs or face not being paid, after South Africa’s top four banks cut ties with Oakbay Investments, the holding company for the Gupta family's businesses in SA.
The blacklisting of Oakbay comes as the Guptas face increasing criticism over their alleged links to “state capture” through their relationship with President Jacob Zuma.
Heading the protest, ANN7 and New Age employee Aphiwe Bukani told the banks that the employees “want to continue working in our companies”.
Allegations that staff forced to protest
Some protesters told Business Day they were forced to join the protest on Tuesday. This alleged trend follows a letter of demand written to the banks on behalf of staff, which was criticised as not representative of all employees.
“We were not consulted before this letter was written. We would have loved to have been consulted,” an anonymous Oakbay employee told Radio 702 last week. “(Employees) do care about mounting allegations on the Gupta family and state capture”.
However, Bukani told Business Day that no one was forced to join the march. "In any march or protest there will be those that are for and those against, but no one was forced to march‚" he said.
During the march, he played off the banks’ slogans to get his message across.
At FNB, he said: “We are asking FNB to help us. Their slogan is, ‘how can we help you’.”
At Standard Bank, whose slogan is “moving forward”, he said: “Move us forward so that we can have jobs next month. Move us forward by accepting our memorandum and giving us a response with regards to what we are saying.”
Oakbay employee Gugu Masinga told News24: "We are here to plead with the banks. We’re just asking them to please open the Oakbay account, because the closure of the accounts means we won’t have salaries. If we don’t have salaries it means we won’t be able to pay for our families, we won’t be able to pay for our bonds."
WATCH: Gupta employees march on SA's banks
DA snubs Guptas' Oakbay for meeting on banks
The Democratic Alliance (DA) on Monday refused to meet Howa, who apparently wrote to the party requesting a meeting regarding being blacklisted by SA's banks.
DA MP David Maynier, who is their shadow minister of finance, said in a statement on Monday that Howa wrote to DA leader Mmusi Maimane on 21 April requesting a meeting.
“Unsurprisingly, the purpose of the meeting would have been to request assistance in appealing to the banks to review their decision to terminate their business relationship with Oakbay Investments,” said Maynier.
At least two of South Africa’s top four banks said they haven’t been approached for a meeting by government to explain the termination of their relationships with Oakbay Investments, Fin24 reported earlier on Monday.
On Thursday, Jeff Radebe, Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation caused a stir when he said three cabinet ministers – Zwane, Oliphant and Gordhan – would meet with the top four banks to find out why they didn’t want to do business with “a certain company”.
Banks still in dark on Gupta talks with ministers
Neither Standard Bank nor Nedbank were willing to confirm whether the three ministers had approached them for a meeting, while Absa and First National Bank (FNB) said they haven’t had such requests from government.
Cas Coovadia, CEO of the Banking Association of South Africa, earlier issued a press statement, saying “an array of regulations”, including the Fica compelled financial services institutions to conduct due diligence on clients, “particularly those of a substantive nature and those that are in the public domain”.
“A bank will take these matters into account when considering ongoing relationships with clients, and will take appropriate action, based on the circumstances,” Coovadia said.
Oakbay did not respond to a request for comment on an apparent meeting with the DA.
