Iqbal Surve views EFF as ‘serious alternative’ to ANC

Executive Chair of Independent Media, Dr. Iqbal Surve, says the EFF is emerging as a serious alternative to South Africa’s ruling party as it appears have lost its moral backbone.

Surve made the remarks after the UK-based multinational bank Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), one of more than 20 financial institutions to be prosecuted by the Competition Commission of South Africa for manipulating the USD/ZAR currency pairing, admitted guilt and agreed to pay a R42.7 million fine.

The banks involved in currency manipulation had generated about R1 trillion a day between 2007 and 2013, the divisional manager for cartels at the Competition Commission, Makgale Mohlala, said.

Following the Competition Commission’s revelation, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) called for all those who admit guilt to the charges of currency manipulation to lose their banking licenses.

“Furthermore, the directors and staff members who were involved must also be prosecuted, and their assets must be seized,” the EFF maintained.

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“Respect to the EFF. They are emerging as a serious alternative to the ANC. The Ramaphosa and PG ANC have lost their moral backbone and are cowards in the pockets of the Broederbond & English capital who own and control the banks and who influence the [South African Reserve Bank] SARB,” said Surve.

The EFF also called on the Competition Tribunal to fast-track the cases of the remaining banks that participated in this scheme “that was designed to profit from the suffering of our people.”

According to the Competition Commission, the investigation into the banks’ currency manipulation uncovered evidence of the following:

• Between 2007 and 2013, SCB and its counterparts were involved in a scheme to fix prices of ZAR currency pairs through various communication channels, including instant messaging platforms.
• SCB and its competitors collaborated to allow a trader with a substantial open risk position to complete trades ahead of others and manipulated liquidity, deviating from typical market trading practices.
• These actions constitute price fixing and market allocation, contravening Section 4(1)(b)(i) and (ii) of the Act.

The adjudication process with the remaining respondents is ongoing, the Competition Commission stated.

28 Banks including the major South African banks Absa, Nedbank, Standard,Investec and FNB commit treason by manipulating the rand. The country loses tens of billions.Yet they attack others for reputation risk which is created by the media they fund. https://t.co/bWs7Hrs3TD

— DR. IQBAL SURVÉ (@IqbalSurve) November 15, 2023