EFF statement on the appointment of Ismail Momoniat as National Treasury Acting Director-General
8 June 2022
The Economic Freedom Fighters rejects the appointment of Ismail Momoniat as National Treasury Acting Director-General with the contempt it deserves. The white capitalist establishment was able to capture and control the National Treasury and South Africa's macroeconomic policy through people like Ismail Momoniat, who continues to serve the interests of capitalists at the expense of workers and the poor majority of South Africa.
Momoniat was appointed by the apartheid government with the intention of co-opting a faction of the ANC to perpetuate the apartheid economy and has dedicated his time to micromanaging the National Treasury on behalf of the rogue unit of Pravin Gordhan and the white capitalist establishment.
The EFF has previously warned South Africans about the toxic control of Momoniat, including the micromanagement of the former Director-General Dondo, deputy ministers and ministers. Momoniat has successfully managed to micromanage taxation and financial sector legislation at the behest and benefit of the largely white-owned financial sector that continues to exclude and exploit the majority of black people. The National Treasury practices an undemocratic approach to policy formulation because of central figures like Momoniat, who were central to all National Treasury presentations in Parliament, including in areas of the department with equally senior officials but were undermined and subordinated to Momoniat.
Momoniat was central to National Treasury efforts to undermine transformative and progressive legislative proposals in Parliament. The EFF introduced the Banks Amendment Bill to allow state-owned entities to apply for banking licenses and the South African Reserve Bank Bill to nationalise the Reserve Bank, and Momoniat was at the forefront of undermining these proposals. He also undermined efforts inside the National Treasury to establish a state bank, even though the former Minister of Finance and the Deputy Minister had put forward a practical proposal to acquire South African Reserve Bank shares in African Bank as a launch-pad to form a state bank.