Ramaphosa’s ‘quiet diplomacy’ on SARB is adding to SA’s economic crisis
6 June 2019
The ruling party’s policy schizophrenia on the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has already cost the South African economy dearly, with the Rand losing almost 2% on Tuesday following the confusion. The silence from President Cyril Ramaphosa is deafening. It is time that President Ramaphosa publicly clarifies the ANC and his government’s position on the SARB.
The President should stop ANC Secretary General Ace Magashule from ever speaking on the economy, and should publicly explain and clarify how the ANC’s National Executive Committee came to make the damaging statement that it did. This cannot be explained away as an innocent miscommunication.
Both the Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, and the SARB Governor, Lesetja Kganyago, have come out in defence of the SARB’s mandate and ruled out "quantity easing", after Magashule announced on Tuesday that the NEC had decided to change the mandate of the SARB and that quantitative easing will be considered. However, investors are still not convinced.
President Ramaphosa has not consistently protected the mandate and independence of the SARB, and has yet to quell the uncertainty created by the contradictory statements given by the ANC and Ministers.