Durban - The Jacob Zuma faction in the ANC was in a “push back” campaign and had been emboldened in recent days when the issue of the expansion of the mandate of the Reserve Bank surfaced.
The central bank issue was a hot topic at the ANC's elective conference in Nasrec, two years ago. An analyst believes that the issue is unlikely to help the faction to take over power in the ANC.
Political analyst Makhosini Mgitywa (formerly Nkosi), believed that President Cyril Ramaphosa was a leader who believed in consensus leadership. He said Ramaphosa would successfully navigate the issue without giving the Zuma faction an upper hand, both inside and outside the party.
“He will implement those conference resolutions that he finds implementable and those he thinks that are not implementable, he will seek consensus within the ANC so that the party remains unified,” Mgitywa said, adding that most of the time, Ramaphosa, would try to please all factions and investors.
He said the Zuma faction was in a push back and defiant mode and their policy proposals at Nasrec in 2017 won the day and Ramaphosa was well aware of that, but there was no guarantee that they would all be implemented.
“I don't know that they are planning to do but it is not impossible that they are going to use this (Reserve bank issue) to say this president or his national executive committee, is not implementing conference resolutions… You can see that there is a push back,” he said.
The issue of the Reserve Bank and its mandate has been topical since ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule announced shortly after the party’s NEC lekgotla, that the bank should include growth and employment in its mandate.
Since then, Magashule’s assertion has been headbutted by ANC’s head of policy, Enoch Godongwana, former Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni.
The two were backed by Ramaphosa, who on Friday, said the role of the Reserve Bank would remain unchanged.