AM4C launches manifesto in Durban

AM4C launches manifesto in Durban

President of the Allied Movement for Change (AM4C) party Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam on Tuesday said the belief of the five major banks that they have the monopoly and can control the financial sector is not in the best interest of the country.

Shaik Emam, a former National Freedom Party (NFP) member who spent 10 years as a Member of Parliament, was speaking in Durban on Tuesday on the sidelines of the party’s manifesto launch and announcement that Sindisiwe Maphumulo, a former deputy president of the NFP, would be the party’s Premier candidate in KwaZulu-Natal.

The party was established in 2013 but will be contesting elections for the first time in next month’s polls.

Shaik Emam said he had personally raised “for a long period the monopoly that exists in South Africa, particularly with big business and particularly in the financial sector”, including life insurance and the banking system.

“If you look at the measures they put in place attempting to shut down bank accounts of major organisations and businesses like the Sekunjalo Group regardless of the number of jobs that will be lost … What is also important to note is that there has been no commission that found anything untoward or against the Sekunjalo Group or Independent Media, (for them) to have taken that decision, that unilateral decision.”

He said the country was being held hostage with conglomerates appearing to be threatening to pull out their investments and bring the country to a standstill.

“The disappointing thing for me is that I have raised it repeatedly, and expected government, particularly the Minister of Finance and National Treasury, to intervene in this matter.

“It tells you that these conglomerates, 30 years later, are still in control of this economy and do what they want to do.”

Shaik Emam said AM4C would focus on four key areas: economic growth through job creation; crime and corruption; creating a more equal society; and ensuring the wealth of the country is returned to the people.

He said South Africans should be encouraged by the emergence of smaller parties because “it is these smaller parties that have, and continue to call for, accountability in how state resources, the hard-earned taxes of our citizens, are used”.

He said while parties sought to exploit the “genocide in Palestine” to gain support, he had brought a motion in Parliament to call for South

Africa to recall its ambassador to Israel.

Earlier, Maphumulo said: “We need to change our systems in education, health and justice. We need to bring the youth and the women, who make up 53% of our population, along and to ensure they believe that these systems can be changed.”

The Mercury