Justice served: Sekunjalo wins again against banks

THE Competition Tribunal on September 16 granted interim relief to the Sekunjalo Group and related entities in a ground-breaking decision by interdicting and preventing three banks from closing Sekunjalo Group’s bank accounts and ordering five others to reopen accounts that have been closed – on the same terms and conditions that existed before termination.

The Black Business Chamber welcomed the tribunal’s ruling.

It said it had written to the Competition Commission, requesting that it investigate possible collusion between the country’s major banks about closing of the Sekunjalo Group’s accounts.

“While the Competition Commission is still deliberating on the conduct of these banks and is yet to make a ruling, (the chamber) is hoping that there is no other logical determination that the commission can reach other than concluding that these banks have colluded against (the Sekunjalo Group) in the closure of (its) accounts,” the chamber’s secretary-general, Mntuwekhaya Cishe, said.

He said two major developments preceding the ruling affirmed its longheld view: “In March this year, judge Willem Heath issued a report in which Sekunjalo and its chairman, Dr Iqbal Survé, were absolved of (the) findings of the Mpati Commission, which were used by competitors of Independent Media to de-campaign Sekunjalo and its group of companies.

“In June 2022, the Equality Court granted Sekunjalo and its group of companies (an) interim interdict to keep (its) Nedbank accounts open.”

The interim relief will subsist for six months from the date of the tribunal’s order, or pending the conclusion of an investigation by the Competition Commission into a complaint regarding restrictive practices filed by the Sekunjalo Group against the banks, whichever occurs first.

The Sekunjalo Group, which comprises 36 applicants, brought the interim relief application against nine banks, citing their conduct in terminating their banking relationships with the group and/or refusing to provide banking and payment services to it as an abuse of dominance and/or collusive conduct.

The nine banks are Nedbank, Absa, First Rand Bank, Sasfin, Access Bank, Standard Bank, Mercantile Bank (a division of Capitec Bank), Bidvest, and Investec. Of the outcome, Survé said: “This has been a challenging period for all of us, but this outcome is undoubtedly a step in the right direction to restoring our reputation, as well as our ability to trade and deliver on our group mandate. We are most grateful to the tribunal for their fair, just and considered opinion of the facts at hand.”