ANC infighting over Sarb mandate
INFIGHTING in the ANC over the expansion of the mandate of the SA Reserve Bank (Sarb) continued to intensify yesterday, with ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule being accused of misrepresenting the party and obsessing over the central bank.
This comes after Magashule announced on Tuesday that the party’s national executive committee’s (NEC) latest lekgotla had resolved for the central bank’s mandate to be expanded beyond price stability to also include growth and employment. ANC head of economic transformation, Enoch Godongwana, and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, took to social media, accusing him of lying. Godongwana said Magashule had misrepresented the outcomes of the NEC lekgotla, adding that his utterances were reckless and risked worsening policy uncertainty in the country.
“He is lying. None of what he said at that conference was resolved by the lekgotla on the Reserve Bank. I called him and he switched his phone off,” Godongwana said.
In 2017, the ANC’s national elective conference resolved to nationalise the Sarb, but there have been political differences within the ANC and its alliance on whether or not the bank’s mandate should be amended. Mboweni accused Magashule of being obsessed with the Sarb.
“Let us leave the South African Reserve Bank alone to pursue its mandate without fear, favour or
prejudice. Let us focus on microeconomic restructuring to grow the economy. Let us stop shouting at business and embrace them as partners in economic growth, investment and job creation,” Mboweni said.
The move to change the mandate of the Sarb has also been opposed by its governor Lesetja Kganyago, who has repeatedly emphasised that the central bank’s mandate was derived from the Constitution.
ANC allies Cosatu and the SACP have however thrown their weight behind Magashule on the Sarb mandate saga. Cosatu called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to rein in ANC leaders who opposed the expansion of the Sarb’s mandate.
The federation accused the Sarb of causing considerable damage to South Africa’s economy under the guise of independence, including through scrapping critical legislation on capital flights out of South Africa, including the Currency and Exchanges Act of 1933.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe could not be reached for comment by deadline.
Let us focus on microeconomic restructuring Tito Mboweni Minister of Finance