Standard Bank says it will take disciplinary action against economist, Chris Hart, following a post he made on social media site Twitter, on Sunday, which was deemed to be racist.

On Sunday, Hart wrote: “More than 25 years after Apartheid ended, the victims are increasing along with a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities…”

The tweet drew strong criticism, with users calling on Standard Bank to take action against the respected economist.

Hart later apologised: “This tweet has caused offense – never intended for which I apologize wholeheartedly. Meant to be read in context of slow growth.”

On Monday Standard Bank released the following statement:

“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.

The bank further tweeted:

“We do not endorse comments made by @chrishartZA yesterday “Comments by @chrishartZA yesterday are factually incorrect and have racist undertones that do not reflect our values “We will be instituting appropriate internal disciplinary processes against @chrishartZA.”

More on Standard Bank

Racism is alive and well in South Africa

Facebook, social media racism on the rise