Cape Town - The Sekunjalo Group of Companies (Sekunjalo) will be at the Equality Court, Western Cape, today in a bid to stop Nedbank, which has moved to close the bank accounts of the Sekunjalo Group.
The urgent interdict to the Equality Court, came after Judge Matthew Francis in the Western Cape High Court, dismissed an earlier application against the bank on jurisdictional grounds, referring to the need for the merits of the case to be heard at the Equality Court and the Competition Commission.
Today’s court action follows a two-day long hearing of the Sekunjalo Group’s case against the bank at the Competition Tribunal on Monday and Tuesday this week.
The applicants in the Equality Court case are Dr Iqbal Survé and 43 others representing the wider Sekunjalo Group, while the respondents include Nedbank Limited and Nedbank Private Wealth Stockbrokers (Pty) Limited.
The banks systematic closing of the Group companies’ bank accounts threatens about 8 500 employees, and indirectly, over 40 000 livelihoods, and has been described by financial academics, industry commentators, among others, as an attack on transformation.
Yesterday, legal expert Zelna Jansen said: “Prior to this Sekunjalo matter, the issues around banking practices being racist have been raised. I think it's important for the court to look at it through the lens of the equality clause, the Constitution and policies in transformation and redressing the past.”
She said she thought it was important for the court to develop the law, particularly as it relates to practices that discriminate on the basis of race, sex, etc.
Meanwhile, in a statement, the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS), Reana Steyn said all bank customers have a right to expect to be treated fairly, reasonably and ethically by their bank.
On the right to receive notice prior to the bank closing an account Steyn said: “The OBS is aware of the current class action suit that is being brought against certain banks via the media, but they are not involved in the matter.”
She, however, said that until a new judgment is handed down by the court, the current legal position is that the banks are allowed to terminate their relationship with consumers.
“The only requirements are that the bank must provide the consumer with reasonable notice of the termination, as well as the reasons for the termination. This position is also regulated within the Conduct Standard for Banks,” Steyn said.
The banks have claimed that they have suffered reputational damage by their association to Dr Survé and the other applicants (Sekunjalo).
The Equality Court case has attracted support from across the country, including a request to be certified as a class action against the banks, by Gardee Godrich Attorneys representing some 6 000 South Africans who claim they’ve been racially or otherwise discriminated against by the banks.
On Wednesday, Attorney Godrich Gardee said he would be in court on a watching brief. “Our advocates are hard on the ground working on the intervention application.”
Others supporting Sekunjalo’s action include the Black Business Chamber (BBC) which said the banks have shown bias when deciding to close Sekunjalo’s bank accounts based on media reports.
BBC secretary-general Mntuwekhaya Cishe said this was unfair, seeing as there have been serious accusations levelled against various other companies, which also reported in the press, have been spared such action and despite being mentioned at state commissions of inquiry.
He said, “Sekunjalo is being made a scapegoat to justify the lack of action against the others, possibly because it was a black-owned business.”