UPDATE: ANCYL crowd calls it a day

Absa bank at the Ballito Junction mall was shaken with eruptions of protest from the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) this morning.

The crowd grew to about 100 ANC Youth League members who sang, danced and protested outside the bank, preventing people from using the ATM machines or entering the bank.

This comes after the leak of the preliminary public protector report which allegedly found that Absa illegally received a R2.25 billion bailout from the apartheid government.

The youth league has since taken to picketing at two Absa branches in KZN, demanding that the bank pay back the money in no less than four months.

They also demanded that the Government move any account that they may have with Absa to Ithala bank.

At the protest in Ballito today, ANCYL provisional secretary Thanduxolo Sabela addressed the Absa management, telling KZN Absa regional executive officer for customer network Rajiv Singh that they will accept the payment in installments.

“We were doing statistics and the membership of the youth league here in KwaZulu-Natal stands at over 72 000 and that excludes three regions that have not been audited.

“Don’t think  this is all of us, this is just a picket. When we want to shut down Absa, we will deploy to each and every branch.

“We are not asking for too much, we are just asking that you pay back this money so that government can use it for youth development.

“This money will be paid. We are calling upon Barclays in England somewhere. They must just set a board meeting. It will take them 20 minutes to say lets just remove two billion and give it to the South African Government.”

Singh, accompanied by senior Absa management said he would pass the ANCYL’s demands onto the Absa regional office.

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