Mixed reaction continued to be expressed on Tuesday following weekend reports that First National Bank (FNB) had shelved its anti-crime campaign that invited people to write to President Thabo Mbeki.
On the one hand, the African National Congress Youth League and the South African Communist Party (SACP) lashed out at the finance house for not spending more on poverty alleviation.
On the other, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said FNB should be praised and not vilified, and the trade union Solidarity set up a website enabling visitors to put their names to an existing letter and send it to Mbeki.
Most Gauteng newspapers condemned the withdrawal of the bank’s multimillion-rand campaign as a cowardly act. They also accused the government and big business of using bullying tactics in the matter.
FNB’s campaign involved print, television and radio advertisements, and invited members of the public to write to Mbeki about their experiences of crime.
The bank withdrew its initiative on Friday after meeting the government and the security cluster, but said it would go ahead with it at a later date.
Beeld, the Citizen, Business Day and Sowetan on Monday said the government had bullied the bank into withdrawing its campaign and that FNB had bowed to the pressure.
Meanwhile, Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said finger-pointing would not help in the fight against crime. Chief executive Jerry Vilakazi said the organisation does not doubt the government’s commitment in the fight against crime.
”[Busa] would caution those who want to take a sectarian approach that could lead into polarisation on this issue.”
The SACP said FNB, like other major financial institutions in South Africa, has been ”exceedingly reluctant” to make any significant effort to address the huge problems of poverty, joblessness and the lack of access to banking and credit facilities confronting millions of South Africans.
Social resolutions taken by the bank at the Financial Sector Summit in 2005 remain largely unfulfilled.
”We need to be tough on crime, but we also need to be tough on the underlying causes of crime — in particular, the crisis of underdevelopment confronting around half of our population, with the aggravating circumstance of extreme inequality.
”These realities make the FNB initiative particularly hypocritical,” the SACP said.
The party also warned on the activities of Business against Crime, saying while such an initiative is welcome, ”it easily defaults into a narrow law-and-order perspective, in which the protection of the ill-gotten wealth and lifestyles of a tiny minority becomes the major objective”.
The National Consumer Forum (NCF) on Tuesday said banks in South Africa had the potential to make significant inroads in reducing poverty, unemployment and crime. – Sapa