S. Africa’s ANC youth wing slams ‘treasonous’ bank ad

The Youth League of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress on Monday accused the high street bank FNB of launching a “treacherous attack” after it released an advertisement addressing the problems of greed, poor education and security facing citizens.

First National Bank’s ad campaign “How can we help you?” features a speech by a 17-year-old student lamenting a multitude of problems that plague the country nearly 19 years after the end of apartheid.

Student Kelly Baloyi urges South Africans to overcome “greed, mistrust” as well as “petty politics” and rampant illiteracy.

But the campaign, released via the website, youcanhelp.co.za, was met with fierce criticism by the ANC Youth League, which claimed it “agitates for an overthrow of our government.”

“We call upon South Africans to close ranks against what is (a) treacherous attack on our country,” the league said in a statement.

“Where there are challenges the ANC government continues to work with the people to resolve their problems.

The league called the advertisement “treasonous” and labelled it a “lame attempt to recreate an Arab Spring of some sort in South Africa.”

The advert’s creators and FNB said the campaign was designed to have a positive impact.

“We want to participate in the social dialogue of the country and we want to have something meaningful and positive to say that can hopefully have an impact,” Brent Tollman of agency MetropolitanRepublic said.