THE EFF yesterday threatened to shut down banking and mining companies which don’t “reform”.
Joburg’s streets looked as if they had been painted red as EFF members in their crimson berets marched under the leadership of their feisty leader Julius Malema, handing over memorandums of demand for change.
They gave the Reserve Bank and Chamber of Mines 30 days to respond – or face shutdown.
“These demands are genuine and you must accede to them immediately because our people can’t wait any longer,” read the memorandum.
Thousands of EFF members gathered at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown.
They were briefed on how to behave before they set off for the Reserve Bank building in downtown Joburg.
Their demands included total government ownership of the Reserve Bank so that it can address the needs of the masses.
With Reserve Bank officials looking on, Malema called on commercial banks to stop charging for withdrawals from grants and pension accounts.
He said the Reserve Bank and National Treasury had to set up an interest-free agricultural bank to subsidise small-scale farmers.
At the Chamber of Mines, the EFF marchers demanded compensation for injured Marikana mineworkers and bereaved families.
Malema called on the mining groups to fund free education, saying government couldn’t pay for this on its own. He said the companies had been stealing from our land for far too long.
When they got to Sandton, the way to the entrance was blocked with corrugated iron gates.
An angry Malema led the marchers in ripping them apart and proceeded in front to the entrance.
And when the JSE chief executive officer, Nicola Newton-King, came up to receive the memorandum she got a mouthful from Malema, who accused the company of racism.
An agitated Malema told King that racist white people had no space in South Africa.
But after he calmed down, the memorandum was read to Newton-King.
They both signed and she left.
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