Standard Bank to take action against Chris Hart
Standard Bank on Monday said it would institute disciplinary action against its prominent economist Chris Hart who posted a tweet which was deemed racist and which ruffled the feathers of social media users over the weekend.
“Standard Bank Group distances itself from comments made by Chris Hart on Twitter on 3 January 2016. The comments made by him are factually incorrect, make inappropriate assumptions about South Africa and have racist undertones,” the bank said in a statement.
“Accordingly, Standard Bank Group will be initiating the appropriate internal disciplinary processes to ensure that these types of personal comments are not associated with Standard Bank Group in the future. We expect our colleagues in every country to at all time reflect the values of Standard Bank Group.”
On Sunday, Hart tweeted: “More than 25 years after Apartheid ended, the victims are increasing along with a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities…”
The post drew wide criticism on Twitter and Facebook, with users calling on Standard Bank to fire him over the “racist undertones” in his tweet.
Hart, who is a global investment strategist at Standard Bank, later apologised on twitter.
“This tweet has caused offense – never intended for which I apologise wholeheartedly. Meant to be read in context of slow growth.”
Hart is an influential economist and regularly gives insight into South Africa in relation to global economic matters.