SACP's Blade Nzimande Says South Africa Needs a State Owned Bank, Suggests African Bank

• The South African Communist Party's Blade Nzimande has made the suggestion that African Bank should be absorbed into a state-owned bank
• Nzimande stated the foundations of this happening are already there because 75% of the bank shares are already owned by state-owned entities
• The South African Reserve Bank which owns 50% of African Bank's shares has made the decision to put its stake on sale

JOHANNESBURG - Blade Nzimande, the South African Communist Party (SACP)'s secretary-general has made the call for South Africa to have a state-owned commercial bank.

Nzimande made this call at a virtual Cosatu Central Committee conference which is currently running over a four-day period ending on Thursday. The conference is now its second day.

Nzimande gave examples of countries such as China that have state-run banks and shared their successes as motivation for South Africa to follow in the same path, highlighting the job creation benefits of having a state-owned bank.

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"The famous Forbes global list of companies has the Industrial and Commercial bank of China at the top spot, number one. And this is a state-owned bank which employs under half a million workers," said Nzimande.

The second example he gave was another Chinese state-owned bank which was placed at number four on the Forbes list and the company has 350 000 employees, according to SABC News.

Nzimande stated that although the idea of a state-owned bank has not been widely received, he stated the African Bank which is partially owned by the South African Reserve bank (50%) and the Public Investment Corporation (25%) meant that African Bank was the perfect candidate to become a state-owned bank.

According to Fin24, the South African Reserve bank is selling its 50% stake in African Bank which it acquired in 2016.

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SARB has already made the call to those interested in their stake to make offers.

Blade Nzimande says the R350 social grant could be the foundation of the Basic Income Grant

Briefly News previously reported that secretary-general of the South African Communist Party Blade Nzimande says the country's staggering unemployment rate is indicative of the need for an economic stimulus in the form of a basic income grant.

Speaking at a media briefing over the weekend, Nzimande stated that the organisation is in support of civil society groups and NGOs for a universal basic income grant, according to a report by SABC News.

He further stated that the R350 Social Relief of Distress Grant can be the preliminary start for the universal basic income grant, adding that the grant would be geared towards individuals that are unemployed or do not earn an income that is feasible for basic survival.

Source: Briefly News