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Cape Town - A shareholder in FirstRand is calling for its directors to be prosecuted for allegedly "charging higher interest rates for people of colour" in his view.
Speaking to Fin24 in a telephonic interview from the Randburg Magistrates Court in Gauteng, Michael Harris said he is "seeking justice for South Africa's poor who are being exploited".
It has been exactly a year ago when Harris, who has been a shareholder since 2001, was assaulted just ahead of FirstRand's annual general meeting (AGM) in 2012.
Watch the video
He tabled questions that he hoped to discuss at the AGM regarding a report that found that FNB clients of colour were being discriminated against because they pay higher mortgage rates than their white counterparts.
"They threw me on the ground, they tore my knee", said Harris.
"When I watch the video I feel sick." He added that the footage was obtained after the police issued a subpoena.
Emerald van Zyl, a financial investigating consultant who exposed Saambou in 1998 for using an illegal method of calculating interest in advance, said he saw Harris being assaulted.
"They chucked him on the ground in front of me," Van Zyl told Fin24.
He said that he decided that he will not attend the upcoming AGM on Tuesday December 3.
"I am not going to attend the meeting because I am scared that I will be assaulted myself."
Van Zyl is also in a legal tussle with FirstRand.
He filed a group class action against FirstRand related to discrimination of interest rate to the Equality Court of the Western Cape High Court.
"FirstRand discriminated against certain bond holders in the Low Cost (black) housing sector by charging them a higher interest rate on their mortgage bonds than that of clients in the High Cost Housing ( majority white clients)", the affidavit seen by Fin24 claimed.
Van Zyl said his analysis found that people with high cost homes were charged a base mortgage rate, while people in the low cost housing sector were charged a base rate plus 2.25%.
He said the case was set for Friday, but was postponed to February 4 2014, due to concerns of an illegal strike in Cape Town.
"The directors must be prosecuted and go to jail," he said, adding that "they are billionaires who are exploiting the poor".
Harris said he is hoping to at least appear before a magistrate so that the truth can be exposed.
"I came all the way from WestRand to the Randburg Magistrates Court to see chief public prosecutor Yusef Baba, but he is not here."
FirstRand rejected allegations that Harris's assault was orchestrated.
"FirstRand strongly refutes any allegation that an assault on Harris was instructed by the group."
"As a shareholder Harris has been admitted to the group’s AGM on every occasion he has requested and the group has dealt with his questions within the framework of the meeting’s agenda, despite Harris creating many disruptions to the meeting at the expense of the other attending shareholders," according to the bank's e-mailed statement to Fin24.
It said that on-going disruptive behaviour resulted in him being barred from the 2012 AGM
"When he was asked to leave the venue Harris became very agitated and aggressive with a number of FirstRand staff.
"The appropriate action was taken by the security team managing the event however Harris strongly resisted efforts by the security team to leave peacefully."
The bank also said that it advised Harris that he will be denied entry to the venue of the 2013 AGM.
FirstRand bank director of investor relations, Sam Moss referred questions of alleged discrimination to FNB, however they did not respond at the time of going to press.
- Fin24
Speaking to Fin24 in a telephonic interview from the Randburg Magistrates Court in Gauteng, Michael Harris said he is "seeking justice for South Africa's poor who are being exploited".
It has been exactly a year ago when Harris, who has been a shareholder since 2001, was assaulted just ahead of FirstRand's annual general meeting (AGM) in 2012.
Watch the video
He tabled questions that he hoped to discuss at the AGM regarding a report that found that FNB clients of colour were being discriminated against because they pay higher mortgage rates than their white counterparts.
"They threw me on the ground, they tore my knee", said Harris.
"When I watch the video I feel sick." He added that the footage was obtained after the police issued a subpoena.
Emerald van Zyl, a financial investigating consultant who exposed Saambou in 1998 for using an illegal method of calculating interest in advance, said he saw Harris being assaulted.
"They chucked him on the ground in front of me," Van Zyl told Fin24.
He said that he decided that he will not attend the upcoming AGM on Tuesday December 3.
"I am not going to attend the meeting because I am scared that I will be assaulted myself."
Van Zyl is also in a legal tussle with FirstRand.
He filed a group class action against FirstRand related to discrimination of interest rate to the Equality Court of the Western Cape High Court.
"FirstRand discriminated against certain bond holders in the Low Cost (black) housing sector by charging them a higher interest rate on their mortgage bonds than that of clients in the High Cost Housing ( majority white clients)", the affidavit seen by Fin24 claimed.
Van Zyl said his analysis found that people with high cost homes were charged a base mortgage rate, while people in the low cost housing sector were charged a base rate plus 2.25%.
He said the case was set for Friday, but was postponed to February 4 2014, due to concerns of an illegal strike in Cape Town.
"The directors must be prosecuted and go to jail," he said, adding that "they are billionaires who are exploiting the poor".
Harris said he is hoping to at least appear before a magistrate so that the truth can be exposed.
"I came all the way from WestRand to the Randburg Magistrates Court to see chief public prosecutor Yusef Baba, but he is not here."
FirstRand rejected allegations that Harris's assault was orchestrated.
"FirstRand strongly refutes any allegation that an assault on Harris was instructed by the group."
"As a shareholder Harris has been admitted to the group’s AGM on every occasion he has requested and the group has dealt with his questions within the framework of the meeting’s agenda, despite Harris creating many disruptions to the meeting at the expense of the other attending shareholders," according to the bank's e-mailed statement to Fin24.
It said that on-going disruptive behaviour resulted in him being barred from the 2012 AGM
"When he was asked to leave the venue Harris became very agitated and aggressive with a number of FirstRand staff.
"The appropriate action was taken by the security team managing the event however Harris strongly resisted efforts by the security team to leave peacefully."
The bank also said that it advised Harris that he will be denied entry to the venue of the 2013 AGM.
FirstRand bank director of investor relations, Sam Moss referred questions of alleged discrimination to FNB, however they did not respond at the time of going to press.
- Fin24
