DA welcomes the withdrawal of mad motion on the South African Reserve Bank

6 March 2018

We welcome the news that the mad motion on the “nationalisation” of the South African Reserve Bank has been withdrawn and will not be debated today in Parliament.

We have been told by Moody’s, who are currently in the country conducting a review ahead of a possible sovereign credit rating downgrade to “junk status”, that:

“…any developments which cast further doubt over the independence and credibility of core institutions including the National Treasury and Reserve Bank would be strongly credit negative.”

What this means is that the mere whiff of an attack on the South African Reserve Bank risks making a sovereign credit rating downgrade to “junk status” more likely in South Africa.

Despite this the ANC submitted a mad motion for debate on the “nationalisation” of the South African Reserve Bank as follows:

“Acknowledging the role, mandate and independence of the South African Reserve Bank, in line with international practice, to ensure full public ownership of the Bank”.

The fact is that the debate would have been a disaster risking an attack on the South African Reserve Bank from the ill-informed, nutters and thugs inside Parliament.

This would have panicked investors and made a sovereign credit rating downgrade to “junk status” more likely in South Africa.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 6 March 2018