Johannesburg - The ANC still wants South Africa's central bank to
be nationalised, but this will not affect the institution's
mandate or independence, party officials said on Tuesday.
Unlike most central banks in the world, the South African
Reserve Bank has been privately owned since it was established
in 1921. But its shareholders have no control over monetary
policy, financial stability policy or banking regulation.
The ANC resolved at a party conference in December 2017 to
move to full state ownership of the South African Reserve Bank
(SARB).
"Our position on the nationalisation of the reserve bank has
not changed. If you talk about sovereignty of that bank,
belonging to the people, is one and the same thing," ANC
Secretary General Ace Magashule told reporters.Magashule was briefing the media on the outcomes of the ANC's NEC meeting which took place over the past three days.
"We have said we are going to implement our decisions...All
the decisions which must be implemented, must be implemented in
a responsible way," he added.
ANC deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said the
mandate of the South African Reserve Bank, which is enshrined in
the Constitution, would not change if the bank was
nationalised.
"(The mandate) cannot change because of who the shareholder
is, that's not the issue," Duarte said.
Some officials in the ANC have called in recent months for
the bank's mandate to be extended beyond inflation-targeting to
include boosting economic growth and unemployment.
Governor Lesetja Kganyago said last week that a debate over
ownership of the central bank was increasing investor
uncertainty and fuelling the risk premium attached to the
country's debt.