Narcistic Gaslighters

Our company has been using Standard Bank, as our primary bank, and it should be noted that, more than fifty million rand, has passed through this account. Furthermore, it should be noted that COVID 19 came unexpectedly and affected most businesses and even our has been affected. Nonetheless, due to the fact that we has existing purchase orders, from Transnet Freight Rail, we have been able to ride this tide. We have signed a lot of suretyships, with Standard Bank, on the premise that, as a when we require a temporal facility or honouring our debit orders due cashflow constraints, there would be no problems. A point should be made that, we have never defaulted on our obligations with Standard Bank, when such assistance is requested. Last year in November, we app**** for an overdraft facility of approximately Two Million and Three Hundred Thousand Rand, in order to fulfil an emergency requirement. The emergency was a derailment of Transnet Freight Rail wagons, transporting manganese to the Port of Port Elizabeth for export. Consequently, a portion of half of our required assistance was disbursed, and we as Directors of the company were also working on this emergency hands on. It should be noted that, a second portion would be disbursed as soon as we signed more additional facilities. We finished with the emergency work, with using only the first portion and undoubtedly, our assistant upon receiving by email a contract to be signed last year for the second portion advised that, the Directors were working on sites and unreachable. Nonetheless, we were fortunate by being able to optimally use the resources we had on hand and to us the matter of requiring the second portion became moot. Approximately three weeks ago, we approached Standard Bank, and advised them that there have been wash- away of railway lines due to the recent flooding in Cathcart, and this has created an emergency for the East London line. As a result, Transnet Freight Rail, would be sending rail wagons to load material to rebuild that line, from our business. Thus requested a temporal facility of two hundred and fifty thousand Rand, in order to cater for the operational costs. Furthermore, we requested that our monthly debit orders for March to be allowed and honoured, whilst we are using all our resources in order to meet this emergency requirement.

I was dumfounded yesterday: a) to see a return debit of an account as unpaid b) to learn that, our application was declined, and the reason given by "Credit is that, i. due to the fact that we did not sign the contract to obtain the second portion for the November / December derailment emergency. ii. Furthermore, it is alleged that, our company at the beginning of this year stated that, "Standard Bank was asking too much from us." This is a blatant untruth because there is no such correspondence, and fortunately we communicate such issues by email, and whoever stated such remarks, misrepresented our company. Quite frankly, the contract was to be signed in order to obtain the second portion, and in January this year, there was not need of the funds, and indeed we paid our obligations to Standard Bank. Today, I have noted that all our debit orders that were allowed have been disallowed and with a reference to ÄCB Dispute. I later googled this term, and the information provided is, when a debit order is disputed by the client, and it also affects the clients bank rating.

This to me after all made me to question my own perceptions by Standard Bank presenting a false narrative, which isn’t really what corporates should be doing. This is in fact a form of a narcissistic behaviour, which is "Narcistic gaslighting". To me as a diagnosed sufferer of depression and anxiety this has heighted by conditions. Nonetheless, perhaps Standard Bank has concluded and decided that, we are no longer of use as their clients. We will grow as business, if it means not with Standard Bank as our partners, but we will grow.