Show leadership, Mr President: Maphatsoe to Ramaphosa on SARB mandate debacle

JOHANNESBURG - As African National Congress (ANC) leaders continue to contradict each other about the party's position on the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), uMkhonto weSizwe Veterans' Association (MKMVA) president Kebby Maphatsoe called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene and show leadership.“The president must really begin to speak to these comrades who are contradicting each other in the media because he’s the face of the organisation,” Maphatsoe said.The governing party’s secretary-general Ace Magashule told journalists earlier this week that last weekend’s ANC lekgotla agreed that the mandate of the central bank must be expanded beyond price stability to focus on development and job creation.Magashule also said the party would set up a task team to explore quantitative easing measures to address inter-governmental debt to make funds available for developmental purposes. However, he was soon contradicted by the ANC’s head of economic transformation, Enoch Godongwana, and Finance Minister Tito Mboweni who said the ANC had not decided to expand the SARB’s mandate.This was nothing new as ANC leaders have publicly failed to speak with one voice on the party’s policy before.While Maphatsoe told Eyewitness News the president must show leadership, he made it clear he was on Magashule’s side on the SARB issue.“Why are people so protective of the Reserve Bank? It’s undermining the [conference] delegates who were mandated by branches,” he said.Maphatsoe said the public contradictions between leaders showed there was a long way to go before there was unity in the ANC.(Edited by Thapelo Lekabe)
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