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FNB 'bullied' over plan - DA
04/02/2007 15:30 - (SA)
Johannesburg - First National Bank was bullied into withdrawing adverts aimed
at highlighting the national state of crime, the Democratic
Alliance (DA) said on Sunday.
"It is sad that an institution like First National Bank gets
reduced from lion to mouse in the hands of a bullying and
threatening government," said the party's safety and security
spokesperson, Dianne Kohler-Barnard.
Her statement followed a Sunday newspaper report that the bank
had cancelled its anti-crime initiative which was designed to
encourage President Thabo Mbeki to make crime his priority.
According to the Sunday Times report FirstRand bank chief
executive Paul Harris and his executive pulled out of the R20m campaign at 15:30 on Friday. Meeting with government officials
The already commissioned
print, radio and television adverts highlighting the campaigns were
canned by management after a meeting between the bank and
government officials.
"The ANC's denial of the extent of crime is damaging our
democracy, undermining public confidence and is preventing the
government and the police from coming up with the necessary
policies and to effectively battle a problem that affects every
South African," said Kohler-Barnard.
In the meantime, Solidarity has reacted to the withdrawal of the
FNB anti-crime campaign by announcing its plans for an alternative
one. Solidarity
Solidarity spokesperson Dirk Hermann said the union's plan was to
follow in FNB's footsteps.
Solidarity intends to follow FNB's aborted plan to send
thousands of letters from the community to President Mbeki...we
cannot allow FNB's good ideas to go to waste," he said.
The plan is to be submitted to Solidarity's national congress on
March 7.
The paper reported that the bank had commissioned 2.8 million
pamphlets with a patriotic message about crime. On each was an
envelope addressed to the president with the postage already paid.
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