BLF ready to protest against Absa again

Over the weekend, the British spy, Michael Oatley, who recommended that apartheid-era money given as a bailout to Bankorp and other companies, once again made it clear that he disagrees with former Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni, who argued last week that the recovery of the money was too complicated and sensitive.

Mboweni has called Oatley a “bounty hunter”.

Many have, in equal measure, criticised Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane for chasing the 30-year-old deal and finding that Absa must repay R1.125 billion to the state.

The Progressive Professionals’ Forum’s Mzwanele Manyi, who claimed on eNCA to have read Mkhwebane’s report twice, wrote over the weekend that the matter was, however, a simple piece of corruption, since Bankorp had been given money by the Reserve Bank at low interest and then reinvested that money with the same bank for more interest.

Labour federation leader Zwelinzima Vavi, however, asked Manyi on the same TV news debate how he slept at night.

Vavi charged that Manyi was among the cohort of people using the decades-old Bankorp bailout as a distraction from the far more pressing dangers of modern state capture in the form of the Guptas and their relationship with President Jacob Zuma.

Andile Mngxitama, the leader of Black First Land First (BLF), another organisation that has long been accused of being funded by the Gupta family, has been overjoyed by Mkhwebane’s latest recommendations.

They have previously protested against Absa, and say they will take to the streets again on Wednesday to try to convince Absa to pay back the money.

It’s unlikely to have that effect, though, as Absa will be challenging Mkhwebane in court.

Mngxitama tweeted that Mkhwebane’s findings are binding, though he neglected to mention that they can indeed be challenged in court.

Both and Absa and the Reserve Bank are approaching the high court in the belief that the public protector made fundamental errors in reaching her findings, and even over-reached her constitutional powers.

The Ciex report was commissioned by government in 1997 after Oatley approached it to investigate and possibly recover billions that had been looted and siphoned by the apartheid state under the premise of business bailouts or ‘lifeboats’. The report, after two state investigations, was eventually shelved by government and nothing was done to further investigate the possibility that the money could be recovered.

The Reserve Bank has added that, in their view, the recommendations are unlawful and Mkhwebane cannot pronounce on any of the central bank’s rules and regulations.

In addition, Absa claims it was not liable to pay back the money, while the Banking Association agreed Mkhwebane erred.

Curiously, Mngxitama retweeted an image that first appeared on an authorless “news website” called WMCLeaks. An investigation by the Daily Maverick’s Scorpio unit, however, traced the website to a Gupta employee living in India.

Mngxitama continues his crusade against “white monopoly capital”, in the apparent belief that white people are still looting the state through their institutional power.