Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma has decried the lack of control in the financing and banking system in South Africa, saying that in South Africa “we are forced to kneel before five banks”.
Dlamini Zuma was delivering a keynote address at the 9th BRICS Youth Summit in Durban on Tuesday where the youth from emerging countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) gathered for three days to share ideas on various issues based on shared values.
The former chairperson of the AU Commission said she expected the summit to re-imagine an alternative banking and financing architecture for the global south.
“Productive societies require productive sectors of the economy, industrialised around manufactured finished goods and away from the shipping of raw materials. We currently have a structural problem of a banking industry that is not only greatly concentrated and monopolised, but also does not serve our interests in many ways.
“We need an alternative public banking and finance system beyond the dominant one, and we need it urgently. The New Development Bank is thus a step in the right direction, but we need to domesticate alternative banking as a matter of urgency.
“For example, in South Africa, we are forced to kneel before five banks. This represents some of the most concentrated banking systems in the world. The greater concentration of banking to the big five has clearly undermined accountability, hindered development, stifled competition, and passed on the cost burden to citizens.
“Without control over finance and banking, only those projects that converge with the interest of private interests will be funded while the interests of the communities we serve take a back seat,” Dlamini Zuma said.
She said the dominant order had reached its sell-by date, adding that an alternative world based on principles of social solidarity and multipolarity was within their reach, and encouraged the BRICS youth to change gears and ensure a decisive break with their untenable past.
Major banks in the country have faced criticism and a growing outcry against financial discrimination and exclusion among black businesses.
In response, the Banking Association of South Africa (Basa), which represents 36 banks, said in a statement that the banks were aware that much still needed to be done for the economy to better reflect the demographics of the country.
Associations representing businesses, such as the SA National Taxi Council (Santaco) and SA Black Farmers Association (BFASA), publicly disclosed that they felt strongly that their members were still getting what they described as “a raw deal” from the banks.
This year, South Africa is hosting the 9th BRICS Youth Summit and the Meeting of Ministers responsible for Youth Affairs. The BRICS Youth Summit is a platform for dialogue and co-operation among countries striving for the promotion of peace, security, and development in a multipolar, interdependent, and increasingly complex, globalising world.
The summit has brought together young people from BRICS countries and will be allowed to network and share experiences on youth initiatives and work on an action plan for co-operation in the economic, humanitarian, mass media, and science spheres.
The focus of the South Africa BRICS Chairmanship will be on BRICS and Africa.