Open letter to Standard Bank Joint CEO, Simpiwe Tshabalala

CC: Standard Bank (Joint CEO): MR BEN KRUGER

C/O: Standard Bank Customer Relations: [email protected]
Standard Bank Complaints Resolution Centre, [email protected]; Fax: 011 636 8860 / 011 636 4207

To: South African Human Rights Commission (CEO): [email protected] / [email protected], [email protected] , [email protected] / [email protected]

CC: Ombudsman for Banking Services: [email protected]
Financial Services Board: [email protected]
Credit Ombudsman: [email protected]
National Credit Regulator: [email protected]
National Consumer Commission: [email protected]
Ombudsman for the Financial Advisory &
Intermediary Service Act: [email protected]
National Consumer Council: [email protected]
Members of the Media

FROM: Vanessa Burger, Independent Community Activist for Human Rights & Social Justice, Cell: 082 847 7766, Email: [email protected] Durban (Standard Bank customer since 1992)

16 February 2016

Dear Mr. Tshabalala

I do trust that you receive this letter. As I have been unable to find any means of contacting you directly, or any other senior Standard Bank staff, I have been forced to submit this correspondence to your Customer Relations and Complaint Resolution Centres in the hope that someone will be so kind as to forward to you and your Joint CEO, Mr Ben Kruger, to whom this letter is copied. Unfortunately locating actual Standard Bank staff amid your plethora of call centres has been a constant challenge throughout the four-year period I have attempted to rectify the matter about which I am writing to you, and has contributed significantly to my current situation. However, I digress.

I am writing to you, Mr Tshabalala, (and lodging complaints with the various regulatory institutions listed as well as copying the media) not because I enjoy airing personal issues in public, but because this matter has now become a human rights issue.

It was with interest that I came across a copy of your internal staff memo circulated after the suspension of your economist, Mr Chris Hart for a racist tweet. I was deeply heartened by the sincerity and honesty expressed in your letter. It is therefore on the premise of your communication that I now base my letter to you.

You began: “I am writing this to you as a black South African. This is an unashamedly personal message with all the history and emotion that comes with that .. I am also writing it as a citizen of the world and as your Chief Executive - as someone who has the honour to lead Standard Bank, a good corporate citizen of South Africa that has become a major multinational corporation.”

You continued: “all South Africans — have a legal and moral duty to work hard to promote the transformation of South Africa,” and “must continue to work hard to transform our economy and our society. … the well-being of our fellow South Africans, our friends and families compels it.”

You also spoke strongly against all forms of discrimination, the dehumanizing impact of racism and inequality and stated, “'As expressed in Standard Bank's Value of Respecting Each Other: ‘We have the highest regard for the dignity of all people’.” And that: “We are committed to transformation by the aspirations and values expressed in our Constitution;” and “To build this better world for future generations of South Africans, a little patience and a degree of sacrifice is required from all of us. Transformation is about creating a much fairer and more sustainable distribution of resources and opportunities.”

You ended off by urging your staff to commit to the values described in the Preamble to our Constitution; and to “recognise the injustices of our past… and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity…. to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights.”

I am therefore writing this unashamedly personal message to you as a white South African, someone who, although from a relatively poor family, benefited significantly from the iniquitous apartheid system that elevated white life above black - injustice that I have tried my entire life to address in various ways. I am not ashamed of being white. But I am deeply ashamed of the arrogance and atrocities committed by my race. I believe all white South Africans, racist or not, have a moral duty to redress injustices perpetrated in our race name, from which we all benefited - directly or indirectly - because of the colour of our skin and because we permitted the perpetuation of an illegitimate government. It pains me daily that these prejudices persist as does the inequality, violence, hatred and suffering which this system entrenched in our deeply traumatised national psyche.

In the context of your letter, the values you articulated and your commitment to Constitutional rights, I therefore bring the following to your attention. I believe that, if you, and the company that you lead, are truly committed to the noble sentiments you expressed, you will change a system, your company’s conduct and practices that daily contravene the basic human rights, dignity and well-being of millions of South Africans – many not even Standard Bank customers – and exacerbate suffering, socioeconomic hardship, injustice, inequality, indignity and deny some even their most basic right - the right to life.

Mr. Tshabalala, banks are not usually associated with human rights abuses, the contravention of Constitutional rights or generally perceived to be engaged in seemingly illegal business practices. I believe Standard Bank spends a substantial sum to build a positive public brand. But I put it to you that this budget is wasted when your company’s operational conduct betrays the values, ethics, commitments and morality you have sought to portray in your staff message, values which are cemented into our Constitution as rights, and therefore upheld by the highest laws in our land.

Although I live in Durban, I will be returning to the Pietermaritzburg High Court this Thursday 18 February, to defend again my basic human and Constitutional rights, even my right to life – against your company, Standard Bank.

This is why.

I have five accounts with Standard Bank. I support my frail 76-year-old mother who receives a government pension of R1400 per month. Increasingly, that's often all we have to live on. My mother, a state facility cancer patient, is also epileptic and suffers from osteoarthritis, high blood pressure and cholesterol.

I have struggled financially since 2006 when the small business I ran from home went insolvent. With no income for ten months and no other means of support, I was forced to live on credit in order to survive while I sought employment. Meanwhile your company sent me credit cards I did not ask for and increased my credit limits without my permission or knowledge. Your company charged some of the highest interest rates in the world.

When my mother developed cancer in 2011, I was forced to take out a personal loan to pay for her surgery. State hospitals were unable to operate in time to save her life. At the time I explained our position to Standard Bank’s financial adviser and that I was already struggling to service existing debt. Your advisor strongly cautioned me against approaching a debt counselor. My only option I was told was to take out a personal loan - more debt on top of debt I could already not afford. I have since learned that there were other options I should have been offered at the time. I have learned that this is called ‘reckless lending’ and that credit providers that are found guilty of such practices may be forced to write-off their clients’ debts.

I lost my job in 2012 and have been permanently unemployed since. I have various qualifications and skills to offer, but am forced to rely on an irregular freelance income - a very precarious existence given our country’s unstable economy.

I had voluntarily placed myself under debt review, but defaulted shortly thereafter when a client failed to honour their debt to me. I tried to sell my house. I notified your home loan and credit departments of my intentions and sought their direction. But Standard Bank repeatedly ignored my numerous attempts to obtain sale advice. Even one of your financial advisors, despite spending five fruitless hours trying to access the correct department / staff member / call centre / legal department etc was unable to provide me with the information I sought to be able to proceed with the sale. My debt was by then - thanks to compound interest, arrears and penalties - slightly more than the value of my house. During the eight months I waited for Standard Bank’s assistance, two signed offers of purchase fell through. I was left unable to accept a job offered to me in another town, as I could not afford to run two households or commute and could not rent.

Since 2008 I had operated a small, community-based organization that assisted poor communities with issues relating to substance abuse, violence against women and advocacy for human rights and social justice. I was forced to close the organization and was left unable to assist several rape victims whose cases I had been working on as well as a number of young people I had been helping to access rehabilitation facilities. I believe all these children are now heavily addicted to whoonga and one is serving a prison sentence.

I liquidated all my possessions to service my debt and to survive. I have nothing left of value. Despite the fact I continued to make small monthly repayments on my accounts and consistently responded to and negotiated debt repayments with your many call centre operators who harassed me mercilessly from dawn until around 8pm each night. But this was not enough for your company that proceeded with legal action against me, without my knowledge and without my being able to defend myself in court.

I suffered untold stress. My physical and mental health, and that of my elderly mother's, was seriously affected. I often became sick and unable to work. On many occasions I lost work contracts as every few weeks I was forced to put my life on hold to attend to each successive financial crisis and Standard Bank’s continual demands. My mother and I often went without food or other basic necessities just so that I could feed your company’s greed. Arrears and interest mounted up. It will now take me several lifetimes to repay what Standard Bank demands as theirs.

In 2014, Standard Bank was awarded a 30-year judgement against me for debt outstanding on my home loan. I was completely ignorant of this matter until, six months later, I discovered court papers – a notice of application for execution of sale of my property – dumped in the gutter outside my house. If approved – which it was by a high court judge in May 2015 and which I am now appealing - it will leave my elderly mother and I homeless. I will be unable to work. We have nowhere else to go. My mother owes nothing to Standard Bank and does not even have an account with you, yet your company will turn her into a vagrant because even shelters for the homeless – which charge around R30 a day - will cost more to accommodate us both than her state grant.

I have since learned that to proceed with legal action irrespective of your company being notified many times that I was in the process of taking steps to rectify the matter is called ‘double tracking.’ In many countries this has been declared against the law and victims are permitted to sue for compensation.

Because of Standard Bank's ever-tightening screws, the harassment, the stress your company has put me through, the unconscionable conduct of your call centre staff and my consequential loss in productivity and therefore income - I can no longer afford to pay rent. In any case, the judgement you obtained against me without my knowledge precludes me from signing any contracts – that includes rental agreements – until I am 79-years old. And after you have auctioned our home, put us on the street and denied me my Constitutional right to earn an income, I understand your company will still hound me for the balance of the money you say I owe.

Since this time, Standard Bank has lodged two more cases against me. My life has become a protracted misery as I wrestle an unequal battle with teams of your top lawyers to keep a roof over our heads. I have been forced to represent myself in court. Although I qualify for legal aid in terms of my tiny income, I am refused my Constitutional right to representation because my only 'asset' (my home), is valued slightly above the qualifying threshold. This 'asset' is precisely what you want to take from me, the very reason I need legal help, the 'asset' for which I have already paid Standard Bank more than eight times its original value, but for which it still wants eight times more.

Seemingly to cause me maximum hardship, Standard Bank took me to court in another city. Each time I appear it necessitates a more than 200km round trip – unaffordable transport costs when a household must survive on a state pension. Over the years your company has consistently obstructed my financial recovery. For more than three years I have single-handedly fought your company to preserve our Constitutional rights to shelter, administrative justice, legal representation, a safe environment, dignity and others. The resulting loss in productivity and earnings, costs and inconvenience has been immense, as has been the strain on my mother, who, at her age and frailty, should be enjoying at least some form of security. Yet your company has consistently contravened it's own rules and regulations, legal requirements, and our human and Constitutional rights, and the courts have allowed it because they believe the public image you have sought to portray, and because you can afford top lawyers – I can’t.

Three weeks ago my very old vehicle on which I was entirely reliant to be able to work, to take my mother to hospital, to pay bills, including your debt, was stolen. Ironically I was at an associate's office while I was scanning Standard Bank court papers when it happened. If I had not been struggling to save our home from your company, I would not have been parked where I was, I would still have a car, I would still have been able to earn, I would still have had hope.

Despite being forced to close my community-based organization I had continued to serve poor communities in my personal capacity because, despite my vastly reduced circumstances, I believed I could still contribute meaningfully to better the lives of others. I had been working exclusively amongst Durban’s impoverished hostel communities – communities that, twenty-two years since the advent of our so-called democracy, remain as marginalized, polarized, disadvantaged, disempowered, discriminated against and exploited as they did under the apartheid regime. These communities suffer a more than 75% unemployment rate, extreme levels of violence and all forms of abuse. Through my work I had built up enormous community trust and goodwill. I am the only white woman who can freely enter most hostels and be welcomed warmly. Despite the hardship and danger, the privilege of having been accepted by the hostel dwellers, despite the racist stigma of my oppressor heritage, has been the most humbling experience of my life. It has been something for which I am truly grateful as it has shown me that harmony, understanding, solidarity and genuine Ubuntu can still bridge the pain of our country’s artificially created racial divisions. But because of the actions of your company, I can no longer assist these communities. I cannot even reach them. Standard Bank has, once again crushed important, positive, meaningful, transformative and constructive initiatives.

This Thursday 18 February, in contravention of yet more administrative and legal procedures, your company will drag me back to court 200km away because you are opposing my appeal to exercise my Constitutional rights. Without transport and without an income it will now be almost impossible for me to get to court. It seems Standard Bank may even rob me of my right to defend myself.

And we are not alone. Nineteen million indebted South Africans are exploited and oppressed, sacrificing, officially, up to 75% of their salaries to service debt. I say ‘officially’ because many people lose their entire income to illegal garnishee orders that leaves them totally without means to feed their children. A friend and fellow Standard Bank client experienced just such, the inhumane practice of which left her HIV+ daughter without food for days at a time. Decent nutrition is vital for those on antiretrovirals yet your company forced this woman to endanger her child’s life to make repayments she could not afford. She was not extravagant and did not spend lavishly. She had taken credit because, like so many of us, we cannot live on our salaries. This practice is illegal, but she is uneducated and had no means of recourse.

This is economic violence - as brutal to the soul and as prejudicial, inhumane and unjust as racism. But there are no laws to protect us. In fact, worldwide, banks such as yours are protected and supported by governments; yours are respected institutions that are considered cornerstones of stable economies. It is unlikely your company will ever be charged with culpable homicide.

I too would have liked to play my part in building “this better world for future generations of South Africans,” but over the past four years – directly or indirectly - your company has systematically stripped me of my possessions, my financial viability, my productivity and ability to earn an income, my mental and physical wellbeing and security, my freedom, my mobility, my independence, my constitutional and human rights. As part of the informal sector which contributes around R120 billion to our GDP, a formerly productive, tax paying individual who used to contribute actively towards community socioeconomic upliftment, you have ‘transformed’ me into a pauper, a drain on society and the state. Standard Bank has utterly destroyed our lives. My mother and I must now choose whether we become vagrants, to be harassed by police and shunned by society, or end our lives.

According to media reports, Mr Tshabalala, last year, you and Joint CEO, Mr Kruger, earned a combined income of R43.3 million, down from the previous year’s R57.5 million. When you were both appointed your salaries jumped 60% from what your predecessor earned.

I do not think you need my house, Mr Tshabalala.

If the Pietermaritzburg High Court finds in Standard Bank’s favour on Thursday, it will, in effect be passing a death sentence. South Africa abolished the death sentence with the end of white oppression. Must one system of oppression be replaced by another – economic oppression – with the same results?

Your company is guilty of economic violence. We are your victims. See our faces. Hear our voices. We are not numbers on your credit systems. We are living, feeling human beings, just like you, albeit with a fraction of your wealth, with aspirations and hopes of some kind of future - hope that you might permit our survival beyond Thursday.

I therefore beg you to justify and lend real credence to the sentiments expressed in your staff message and the ethics your company seeks to portray. You have the power to stop this violence, this immoral oppression. I implore you to use it to improve the lives of millions of South Africans, and to save ours.

Thank you

Yours sincerely

Vanessa Burger
Independent Community Activist for Human Rights & Social Justice. 0828477766

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