ANC versus ratings agencies

RATING agencies should not enter debates about ANC succession or cabinet reshuffles, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said yesterday.

This was after Standard&Poor managing director Konrad Reuss reportedly said a cabinet reshuffle could hurt the country’s assessment by the rating agency.

SA has been on tenterhooks for the past year as it faced the prospect of a ratings downgrade, due mainly to political uncertainty after the removal of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene at the end of 2015.

“We are not working for a rating agent, we are working for a country ... once they begin telling us who should be the next president... when to reshuffle ... then it is dangerous,” Mantashe said.

“He has entered into a space that doesn’t belong to him.”

The ANC has also called on the government to develop a programme to deracialise and transform the “highly concentrated financial sector”.

The decision taken by the ANC’s January lekgotla comes as banks are increasingly under pressure, particularly after its closure of Gupta-aligned company, Oakbay’s bank accounts.

The lekgotla focused on “radical socioeconomic transformation”

“Our main objective remains the liberation of blacks in general and Africans in particular. Its components include the creation of jobs, accelerating shared and inclusive growth.”

The ANC intends to “disrupt existing patterns of ownership and control” through agriculture and land reform, among others.

The lekgotla agreed the government should pursue industrialisation strategies instead of depending on the export of natural resources.

The government should also focus on increasing investment into infrastructure projects, prioritising townships and rural areas, and providing “generous subsidies to black industrialists”.

Mantashe said the ANC reiterated that the National Development Plan and the Nine Point Plan for economic growth remained “relevant”.