Categories: South Africa

BLF says Absa is trying to stop them from getting to parliament

Black First Land First (BLF) has released a statement accusing Absa of attempting to stop the party “from going to parliament by stealing the money of the poor”.

Really, it seems that Absa is simply collecting money BLF owes the bank after it won a court order against the party in 2017 prohibiting its leader Andile Mngxitama and its members from illegally protesting or trespassing on its property.

This was a result of a customer getting hurt in a scuffle amid the party’s protests outside the bank, reportedly breaking his arm.

The order, which also prevents the party from being able to damage property, prevent access to the bank, or intimidate its staff, was won with costs.

BLF, meanwhile, has been trying to raise the R600,000 deposit needed to contest the elections through crowdfunding.

While a campaign to raise the funds via crowdfunding platform BackABuddy was shut down, which the party blamed on “the Oppenheimers” but which BackABuddy says was because they decided that hosting political campaigns is “divisive”, the party has since issued statements boasting about having raised R200,000 so far on their own website.

Absa appears to have approached the party for the money the court ordered it to pay following the revelation that the party has come into some money, leading the party to lash out against the bank in a strongly worded statement.

The party said it is “appalled by attempts by Absa to stop BLF from going to parliament by stealing the money of the poor”.

The statement read: “BLF notes with anger that Absa has instructed its legal team to approach the courts in order to take the money which the oppressed have donated to the #TakeBLFtoParliament campaign. The success of the #TakeBLFtoParliament campaign has frightened Absa into trying to stop BLF from going to parliament by any means, including stealing the money of the poor.”

The full statement can be read here.

Asking for clarification on the link between the costs order and the party’s crowdfunding campaign, party spokesperson Lindsay Maasdorp went into some detail.

“Of course you know BLF doesn’t have any money or assets, we are a poor, black, landless organisation. Obviously, Absa has seen that we have gone on a campaign to raise money to be able to take BLF to parliament to pay the deposit that is needed by the IEC. And when they saw this they then contacted us and directed us to commence payment,” he said.

“We’ve already stated numerous times we don’t have money but they’ve now seen that the poor black masses have started to contribute their rands and cents to be able to take us [to] parliament and they now want to ensure that that money is taken which would then stop us from being able to go to parliament.”

All the bank’s spokesperson, Phumza Macanda, would say on the matter was: “Yes, the court awarded Absa costs against BLF and we gave BLF more than enough time to engage with us and settle the matter.”

The protest that led to the court order was over an apartheid-era bailout over 30 years ago which saw Bankcorp, which later became part of Absa, getting billions from the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).

Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane found that the bailouts were unlawful and that Absa must repay R1.125 billion to the state, but in February her report was set aside in the High Court in Pretoria and she was ordered to pay 15% of the SARB’s legal costs personally.

Maasdorp called ABSA the party’s “historical enemy” and said they are “continuing the war against us and observing that if we go to parliament and represent the black majority we’d continue to come after them and make sure they pay what they still owe”.

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