Cape Town - President Cyril Ramaphosa has considered the debate on the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) closed after he made a pronouncement on the matter.
The ANC head of Presidency, Zizi Kodwa, said the issue would not be open to any discussion despite the Top 6 meeting tomorrow.
Kodwa said once Ramaphosa has made a statement on a policy matter, it was closed and would not be open to any further debate.
“The matter is closed. On matters of policy, the president makes pronouncements, there is no further debate,” said Kodwa. “The president has closed the debate on the
matter.”
ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, drew the attention of
top officials in the week when he said the National Executive Committee (NEC) had resolved that the mandate of Sarb be expanded to include growth and employment.
But ANC head of economic transformation Enoch Godongwana, entered the debate and disputed Magashule’s statement saying there was no such decision or resolution.
Godongwana said he even wrote the Nasrec conference resolution in 2017 and there was no such decision.
He was backed by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, who said the mandate of the Sarb will not be reviewed.
Ramaphosa issued a statement on Thursday after the meeting of the Top6, where he also there was no decision on expanding the mandate of the bank.
But Magashule tweeted a contradictory message after Ramaphosa’s statement, but the former later said the tweet was fake.
This was after the tweet was deleted.
Kodwa said there would be no further discussion as Ramaphosa has clarified the policy position of the party.
He said this was the position taken by the ANC.
The ANC has been divided over the past few years and the debate has seen further divisions.
Officials scrambled throughout the week to do damage control on what was said at the NEC lekgotla at the weekend.
Ramaphosa has retained Mboweni as Finance Minister, but appointed David Masondo as his deputy. Mboweni has in the past spoken out about issues he was not happy
about.
This time he backed Godongwana on what came out of the NEC meeting.
Kodwa said the Top Six meeting tomorrow would not discuss the Sarb mandate despite the raging debate.