ANC will nationalise the Reserve Bank

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the ANC’S December 2017 Nasrec conference resolution to nationalise the South African Reserve Bank must be implemented. He was speaking during his final question-and-answer session for the fifth parliamentary term before the elections in May.

Answering a question from Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane about policy certainty regarding the bank, Ramaphosa said nationalising it was not a “mad programme” thought up by the ANC but an international practice of countries wholly owning their central banks.

Ramaphosa said South

Africa is only one of six countries in the world whose central bank is owned by, among others, external shareholders.

“It will confirm our sovereignty. The central bank is one of the most important institutions in the life of any country.

And that is what the ANC has resolved must be done,” he said. “That decision is there and has got to be implemented.”

Asked by the leader of the opposition how much money his son, Andile, earned from a Bosasa contract, the president said all information had already been handed over to the public protector.

“The public protector is busy with this matter.

All information has been submitted by myself, a number of people, and my son. So the contract that he had for doing work for them outside the country is a matter that is with the public protector and it will be dealt with that way,” Ramaphosa said. “There’s really nothing to hide. But the public protector is the one who knows.”

Bosasa, later named

African Global Operations, is the recently liquidated logistics company implicated in large-scale corruption and state capture.

Ramaphosa said he was satisfied by the work done by the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture, which has shone a light on grand corruption in the state.

Before the question-and-answer session, Ramaphosa addressed the ANC caucus to say farewell before Parliament dissolves ahead of the elections.

Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu said the president gave ANC MPS their “marching orders”, as candidates prepare to canvass voters in their constituencies.

Mthembu says the caucus is fully behind Ramaphosa to lead the ANC to the polls.

This is despite the silence of some on the ANC benches when the president has tackled touchy issues such as the restructuring of state-owned enterprises and shrinking the size of the Cabinet and departments.

“The president has to confront difficult issues of our country,” said the chief whip. “He’s confronted with the issue of corruption. And he has the commissions into corruption, and state capture where even in the movement you have people say there’s no such thing as state capture. But we have a president who says: ‘No, we must get to the bottom of this.’ ”

Mthembu said the opposition have often sought to highlight certain policy differences between Ramaphosa and some in the ANC by applauding the president.

“Not everybody may agree with him. But the majority of the ANC fully agrees with the president. Now the opposition, when they want to make a case they will all clap very loud, even drowning the majority party — as if they’re the people who are fighting corruption more than the ANC,” Mthembu said.