Well Done Solidarity... And Thank You!

A few days ago I posted an article about FNB's racist policies when it comes to bursaries etc. I'm pleased to say that some progress has been made, thanks to Solidarity in South Africa. Well done lads!

Source

An agreement has been reached between Solidarity and the banking group FNB regarding the bank’s decision to exclude white employees from financial study aid programmes. During talks between Dirk Hermann, deputy general secretary of Solidarity, and Michael Jordaan, CEO of FNB, it was agreed that the bank would include whites in the transaction if the law allowed such a step. The legal teams of FNB and Solidarity will now meet in mid-January to see if a solution can be found for the dispute.

This agreement comes after more than 400 South African laid complaints against FNB about the bank’s support programme. Heated discussions broke out on Facebook and internet blogs. Many of the participants in the internet discussion groups threatened to close their accounts at FNB. The discussions can be followed at http://www.solidarity.co.za/

“Our talks were very amicable. Michael Jordaan put it to us that the support trust is part of a larger black economic empowerment transaction. According to him, their legal advice was that whites could not be part of such a transaction. Solidarity’s opinion is that no law requires that only blacks be helped in this type of BEE transaction. There are many examples of whites in fact being included in such a transaction. It was agreed that FNB would, if allowed by legislation, allow white employees who earn less than R100 000 to be part of such a transaction. Although it is not yet the end of the road, good progress has been made. We trust that this process can bring about a final agreement,” according to Hermann.

In the November edition of FNB’s newsletter to employees, Treetalk, the company writes that if employees are struggling financially with the demands of high study costs, there is good news. According to the letter, FNB is committed to ensuring education for everyone and as part of the initiative they are offering financial support to black employees, including Africans, Indians, Coloureds and Chinese, who earn less than R100 000 per year.

The fact is that most employees who earn less than R100 000 at FNB are actually black. Even if white employees who also earn a small salary and are struggling are included, it is still a black transaction in terms of the empowerment codes. A good comparable example is AngloGold Ashanti’s employee empowerment transaction, which includes all employees, regardless of race, below a certain job level.

“The bursaries are in fact not awarded by FNB itself. In 2004, FirstRand a black empowerment transaction was concluded. In terms of the transaction, a trust was established with the aim of supporting the education of black children. The view was (and is) that it is better to support education than to give the benefit to only a few individuals. According to legal advice obtained by FNB regarding the 2004 transaction, those who benefit from black empowerment must be exclusively be black. In terms of the foundation charter, the trustees of the trust therefore only have the discretion of giving the bursaries to black children. The decision to award bursaries rests with the trustees of the trust, and not with FNB” according to Michael Jordaan, CEO of FNB.

“However, if it were legally possible to amend the discretion of the black empowerment trust in such a way, without harming the black empowerment transaction if white employees were to benefit, it would considered favourably.FNB does have a variety of other bursary schemes as well as educational support programmes in which all staff members receive support according to merit. An inclusive agreement at FNB could be a big step forward for everyone in South Africa” according to Jordaan.

Dirk Hermann
Deputy general secretary: Solidarity

So You Want to Visit South Africa Do You?

Watch the video, how long it will stay on YouTube is a different matter however it was part of an episode Louis Theroux did a while back. Are you sure you want to visit South Africa? Really? Good Luck!

First National Bastards - Racism Strikes in S.A. Again!

Source

So much for having a few days break huh? Once again another South African company has shown it's true colours. If this is not racism and is redressing past imbalances I'd hate to see what happens when the company does start practising racism. Owned by a relatively small and unkown company that trades by the name of Anglo American. Headquarters are where? L.O.N.D.O.N. what a surprise! London, capital of world racism! Which in a country where racial and ethnic diversity is the new religion, is very surprising. Oh wait, when it comes to people of European descent it's ok to be a victim of racism because we were all once colonial oppressors.

Aren't you just getting sick of it all? I know I am. So needless to say, if you're a customer of FNB start looking for a new bank. In fact if you have shares in FNB and/or Anglo American I'd start selling as a matter of principle.

I'm not going to go into the whole history of FNB in fact I'm going to be looking into the companies that award the bursaries on behalf of FNB.

African Scholars Fund

I wonder if there's a white scholars fund? Margaret Elsworth is the founder (now retired) of this organisation. If you ever needed a reason to distrust Helen Zille, here is one: Madame Premiere congratulated this lady on her work. By association the DA (who don't forget fought against racism) congratulate organisations for practising racism as long as it's not against blacks. Veto the DA and vote for the Cape Party!

Fear not U.K. dwellers we have a ASF rep right here in Blighty she goes by the name of Sandy Elsworth (yep same surname, nepotism, keeping it in the family !)

Again we pay tribute to Sandy Elsworth, our UK Chairman, who continues to facilitate the passage of meaningful pounds, from both family and many friends, into our coffers.

Ex-pats stay away from this charity:

African Scholars' Fund (Uk)

Registered charity number 1070406

Look how much money the charity generates in the U.K.

Contact details for this charity:

MR ANDREW JOHN ELSWORTH
AFRICAN SCHOLARS FUND
10 LURKINS RISE
GOUDHURST
CRANBROOK
TN17 1ED
Tel: 01580 211550
Email: sandyelsworth@yahoo.com
Website: www.asf.org.za

Charity's Objectives: (Read between the lines)

TO ADVANCE THE SECONDARY EDUCATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE BY ASSISTING THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN EDUCATIONAL TRUST CALLED THE AFRICAN SCHOLARS' FUND IN SUCH WAYS AS THE TRUSTEES MAY IN THEIR ABSOLUTE DISCRETION DETERMINE PARTICULARLY IN WAYS WHICH MAY RESULT IN THE AWARD TO SUCH CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE OF FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE FOR BASIC FEES, EQUIPMENT AND BOOKS

So you have the information you need. How about sending a snotty mail or letter?. I'll be making an official complaint to the charities commission this side too!

Career Wise

Whenever I see the word "Empowerment" I shudder because I just know that there's going to be discrimination of some sort. The full name of this company is Career Wise Empowerment Ventures. Career Wise "strangely" enough are a part of... Anglo-American. In a long list of customers, Anglo-American feature a few times. So Anglo-American are their own customers. No doesn't make sense to me either.

If you go and have a look at their About Us page you will see who are the recipients of their bursaries.

Rural Education Access Programme

Would you like a giggle? Really? Okay then why not!

REAP is an associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference (SACBC).

REAP is in partnership with the South African government's National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). REAP students receive subsidised student loans through NSFAS. NSFAS is primarily supported by South African taxes and ex-student loan repayments.

REAP does not discriminate on religious grounds in selecting students for the Programme.

Wow so the South African tax payer finances this, but then certain South African tax payers are excluded from the program. Nice! The funniest bit for me anyway is this: The church in a "We're holier than thou" moment have stated they're such nice people they don't discriminate against any religion. Ha! They don't say anything about discriminating on colour. South African tax payers if you didn't know already, you're being shafted, by a church (The Catholic Church nogal!) and your beloved government! Make a stand, don't pay your taxes!

 
SAICA Thuthuka Bursary Fund
The South African Institute for Chartered Accountants in case you didn't know. Now at least these guys are pretty blatant about it!
 

The purpose of the project is to annually place between 250 - 300 fully bursared Black African and Coloured students at selected SAICA-accredited universities in cohorts of 50 per university on special undergraduate BCom Accounting education programmes. The accredited universities that are part of the programme are the University of KwaZulu-Natal, University of Johannesburg, Stellenbosch University, University of Pretoria, University of Cape Town, Free State University and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.

Do you qualify?
Do you have 60% in Mathematics in your Grade 11 Final Results (Level 5)?
Do you have enough points to qualify for university entrance?
Do you come from a family that cannot support you financially at tertiary?
Are you an African or Coloured learner?

Well yes they will be getting 60% since most maths marks are going to be adjusted.
No we didn't get enough points to get into Uni, but hey our comrades in government will ensure we get them no matter how thick we actually are.
No most South Africans (Of all colours)can barely finance a Uni course.
Damn! I don't qualify, I'm not black or coloured, oh well guess I'll move to a country where I can study. Forced removal of a culture, persecution based on culture/colour. Genocide, and is supposed to be protected by any number of U.N. Charters.

Oh well that's okay then, at least the U.N. will fight for me! Bzzzzzzt! Wrong, they couldn't give a monkey's!
A few notable board members:

Matsobane Matlwa, CA(SA)
SAICA Executive President
Constiuency: SAICA

Matsobane Matlwa comes to SAICA from the South African Revenue Service (SARS), where he was Group Executive of the Large Business Centre. Prior to joining SARS in September 2004, he was General Manager (Group Finance) at ABSA, having previously been an audit partner at Ernst & Young.

Matlwa holds the following qualifications: Hons B Compt, CTA, MBA, M Com (Taxation) and a CA(SA). He has served on a wide range of SARS committees, having chaired the Large Business Centre (LBC) senior managers committee and the LBC employment equity forum. He has also served as chairman of the Transmed investment committee and of the Autonet finance and administration restructuring committee.

Matlwa was also a member of the Transnet restructuring team, of the Transnet treasury committee, of the SAA Corporation financial working group and of the SITA board of directors. In addition he has also served as a senior controller at the Financial Services Board and as an accountant at Anglo American's coal division.

Hmmm SARS a government department. Then SAA and Transnet also government run entities. Oh and look there's that old corker of a name Anglo-American!

Victor Sekese, CA(SA)
Chief Executive Officer, SizweNtsaluba VSP
Constituency: The Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of South Africa (ABASA)

Victor Sekese is driven by the challenge of being the CEO of SizweNtsaluba VSP. "One is simply unable to predict what is going to happen in the future. Every day is different. It's exciting to lead a team of motivated and ambitious professionals."

Tell me is there a " The Association for the Advancement of White Accountants of South Africa"? No I thought not!

South African Actuary Development Programme

The South African Actuaries Development Programme is a programme that seeks to actively address the problem of the acute shortage of actuarial skills in the black community in South Africa. After careful selection, students receive a comprehensive bursary and support for their studies over a four year period. The entire process from selection through to graduation is carefully structured so as to serve the objectives of the programme.

Say no more, say no more. Kids in South Africa start getting out your black shoe polish and changing the colour of your skin if it's not black.

Study Trust

Study Trust is an independent national bursary agency, based on Christian principles. Its business is:

to raise funds with the support of the private sector, individual donors, organisations, trusts and churches to grant financial assistance (bursaries and/or loans) to carefully selected, deserving young people to give motivational guidance and support to students towards the fulfilling of their potential and for the benefit of South Africa

My Oh My, how very Christian of you! But you don't say that you discriminate on colour. Gosh darn it!

Tertiary School in Business Administration

TSiBA Education is a private provider of Higher Education in business. TSiBA offers a unique Foundation Year Certificate in Business Administration followed by an enriched Bachelor in Business Administration focused on Entrepreneurial Leadership. TSiBA specifically targets scholars and potential students that would otherwise not have access to tertiary level education, by offering successful applicants full tuition scholarships.

There you have it ladies and gents. Racism, in South Africa. Who wudda thunk it?