Standard Bank will now keep open 30 of the Sekunjalo Group of companies accounts, including Independent Media, following a Constitutional Court challenge by the group.
This as pressure has been mounting on the bank to reconsider its decision to issue a notice to the companies informing them that their accounts would be closed by August 21, following a judgment by the Competition Appeal Court (CAC) in the bank’s favour.
Before this, the bank was ordered to keep the company’s accounts running prior to a final judgment. The interim judgment, which was granted in September last year, was due to come to an end in March this year, but was extended by six months.
In a statement on Thursday, the Sekunjalo Group confirmed Standard Bank would keep the accounts of 30 of its companies open until September 16, 2023, aligned with the extension of the Competition Tribunal interim relief ruling, but also contingent on the conclusion and outcome of an investigation being by the Competition Commission into accusations of collusion and anti-competitive behaviour, brought by the wider Sekunjalo Group of Companies against the country’s major banks.
“It is important to note that the Competition Commission is still busy with this investigation, hence the interim relief order the Tribunal granted in September 2022, has been extended, with the next due on 16 September 2023,” the statement read.
“For clarity, the Competition Tribunal found that there was a prima facie case that the banks had engaged in market dominance and anti-competitive behaviour.
Further, the Tribunal found that having received and perused all the documents before it, there was no evidence of any wrongdoing by any of the Sekunjalo Group of Companies, and that therefore the action of the nine banks is arbitrary and without basis.”
Separate to the papers before the Constitutional Court, the Sekunjalo Group said it was confident that the Constitutional Court would be the ultimate deciding body to look at the equal rights of all citizens and entities in South Africa in relation to the arbitrary closure of accounts by the banks.
“The massive power that banks have over the country, conflicts with many of our country’s constitutional freedoms – including the right to trade, discriminatory laws, and the right to media freedom,” the group said.
Standard Bank said as the Sekunjalo Group had since filed an application to the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal against the decision of the CAC, the bank agreed, “for the time being”, to hold off on implementing its decision.
Standard Bank said its actions “will be guided by its obligations under law and it will continue to respect court processes”, adding that they would be opposing the appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Meanwhile, the ANC in the Western Cape has added its voice in condemning Standard Bank, with the party’s provincial spokesperson Khalid Sayed saying the planned move by Standard Bank disempowered ordinary citizens and workers.
“It is to also adversely affect the staff that would need to be paid and people who potentially lose their jobs. We are calling on Standard Bank to rethink this particular heartless action,” he said.
“Independent Media, like all other media, provides a platform especially for us to make our oversight work to be known to the public and for the public to know what is happening on the ground.
“So it will be a major disservice not only to journalism but to civil life in particular,” Sayed said.
Cape Times