DA and John Steenhuisen to approach the courts over decision on schools

DA Leader John Steenhuisen. Image via: Ziyaad Douglas / Gallo

Steenhuisen tells IMF to stop ANC spending loan ‘with racial motivations’

Opposition leader John Steenhuisen has made a drastic move on Thursday, asking the IMF to stop the ANC using their funds to favour BEE organisations.

DA and John Steenhuisen to approach the courts over decision on schools

DA Leader John Steenhuisen. Image via: Ziyaad Douglas / Gallo

John Steenhuisen has gone over the government’s collective heads on Thursday, after he wrote to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about the conditions of the ANC’s relief expenses, and the favourable environment they have created for Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) businesses.

John Steenhuisen goes over ANC heads

The IMF are loaning South Africa ‘billions of dollars’, in a bid to prevent the economy from collapsing during the lockdown. But according to the DA leader, the ruling party ‘has chosen to turn this loan funding into a racially divisive tool’ by insisting that only BEE-compliant companies will be eligible for support.

Steenhuisen is chasing an official ‘censure’ from the money machine at the IMF. This would mean that the group issue an official warning to the ANC, demanding that they do not use any relief funds for racially-based purposes. Such a move would signal a major international condemnation of the plans created by Cyril Ramaphosa and his team.

“The majority of these relief funds come from a loan obtained from the IMF, I implore this international body to censure the South African government and instruct it to stop using IMF monies in a way that discriminates along racial lines, and exacerbates racial tension in South Africa.”

“The ANC government’s choice to use this funding to only support BEE compliant companies, at a time of national economic crisis, is unconscionable. The disease does not discriminate on the basis of race, and it is indefensible that government should do so when deciding who is deserving of their help and who is not.”

John Steenhuisen’s letter to the IMF

IMF told to ‘censure’ BEE spending

The tourism industry looks set to be the biggest benefactor of the targeted funds. The government successfully swatted away a legal challenge against its BEE laws last week, but John Steenhuisen isn’t playing by domestic terms anymore. The IMF is yet to respond to the petition.