EFF leader Julius Malema cut a lonely figure as his call for the nationalisation of banks without compensation was torn to shreds by political parties‚ with MPs calling it unconstitutional and a “mad” idea.

Malema had sponsored the motion which was debated in the National Assembly on Tuesday.

ANC MP Adrian Williams was the first to reject the motion.

“The implications of nationalising the banks without compensation are quite expensive. As a nation‚ we need to collectively see what will happen if we nationalise the banks without compensation. It’s easy to put a motion like this on an order paper and make headlines‚” said Williams.

He said some people see nationalisation as a “silver bullet that will cure our problems“.

“Some people are left with a warm and toasty feeling when they talk about nationalistaion of banks. That feeling isn’t rooted in the facts. That feeling isn’t supported by any actual information. It’s a subjective feeling. We must engage on consequences. We cannot simply use our feelings that may be rooted in a cut and paste populist ideology that was invented by the EFF in 2013‚” said Williams.

Williams said he was not standing before the National Assembly to defend the banks.

“I’m standing here to defend the people‚” said Williams.

He said the banks’ debts would have to be paid by South Africans.

Malema had said the banks owned land and huge commercial properties such as malls and industrial parks.
“Banks control and run the lives of so many people. State-owned bank will be run by qualified professional and deployees of political parties‚” said Malema.

He said in other more developed countries like China‚ banks play an important role in driving development and the Chinese government owns more than 20 banks.

DA MP David Maynier said the EFF had not done its homework before tabling the motion.

“Let me be clear from the start‚ the idea of nationalising banks without compensation is not just a bad idea‚ it is a mad idea that would crush the hopes of the 9.4 million people who do not have jobs or have given up looking for jobs in South Africa‚” said Maynier.

He said hardworking people need to know that the EFF wants to seize billions of their savings invested in banks.

“The idea of nationalising the banks is hardly original and shared by the finance minister’s economic advisor‚ Professor Chris Malekane‚ who seems to have attended the Hugo Chavez school of economics. The boardroom communists who talk like workers and live like bosses inside the South African Communist Party‚” said Maynier.

The IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa said his party does not support the EFF’s agenda to nationalise banks.

“It will take us back and back is not where South Africans want to go‚” said Hlengwa.

African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader Kenneth Meshoe also joined the chorus saying nationalising of banks “would accelerate state capture“.

The African Independent Congress (AIC) said it was “sceptical” about the idea before rejecting the motion.

Agang SA‚ the Freedom Front Plus and the National Freedom Party (NFP) all rejected the motion.

EFF MP Mbuyiseni Ndlozi didn’t take lightly to having their motion rejected and objected to having their motion described as “mad” by a “white” MP.

“It’s condescending to be called mad by a white man. You can say it doesn’t make sense‚ don’t say people are mad‚” said Ndlozi.