#PublicProtector won't challenge Reserve Bank in court

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will not mount a legal challenge to the application by SARB on her recommendations to curtail its powers. Picture: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will not mount a legal challenge to the application by SARB on her recommendations to curtail its powers. Picture: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

Published Jul 10, 2017

Share

Johannesburg - The Public

Protector will not oppose a court challenge against her binding

proposal calling for a change to the mandate of the central

bank, her office said on Monday.

Busisiwe Mkhwebane recommended last month that the South African

Reserve Bank's (SARB) mandate of maintaining price and currency

stability be changed to focus on economic growth.

That set off a political row that has hit the rand and

government bonds and prompted court challenges from SARB

Governor Lesetja Kganyago, Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba and

Speaker of Parliament Baleka Mbete. They argue that Mkhwebane

had gone beyond the scope of her mandate.

The Public Protector's spokeswoman Cleopatra Mosana said on

Thursday that Mkhwebane had filed a notice opposing the

challenges to her recommendation. Mkhwebane said she was

empowered by the constitution to intervene in such affairs.

On Monday, however, her offices said Mkhwebane would no

longer be putting up a defence of her recommendation in court.

"Having considered the legal advice from the Senior Counsel,

which advice she accepted, the Public Protector, Advocate

Busisiwe Mkhwebane has decided not to oppose SARB’s review

application," Mkhwebane's office said in a statement.

The rand was unmoved by the news.

Analysts say it is unclear what prompted Mkhwebane's

recommendation. It will now be up to the courts to decide

whether her mandate extends to the central bank. The SARB has

requested for a hearing of the case in August.

The ruling African National Congress has stated that it is

opposed to altering the mandate the central bank.

But its ally Cosatu, the country's biggest union, has backed

calls for changes saying the bank is not acting in the interests

of South Africa's poor majority.

Mkhwebane made the proposal to change the bank's mandate

when she delivered her findings on an apartheid-era bailout of a

bank that was subsequently bought by Absa, now a unit of

Barclays Africa Group. 

Reuters

Related Topics: