Public protector sets scene for mammoth legal standoff over Absa, Reserve Bank
The public protector is standing by her controversial report on the Absa-Bankorp lifeboat, in which she recommends that the South African Reserve Bank’s constitutional mandate be changed, saying that she would oppose applications by the Bank and the Treasury to have the report set aside. Busisiwe Mkhwebane would file her answering affidavit next week, said her spokeswoman, Cleopatra Mosana. The move follows an ANC policy proposal this week to nationalise the Reserve Bank. Although this should not affect the Bank’s independence, which is enshrined in the Constitution, the proposal was seen as signalling an onslaught on the Bank’s independence and inflation-targeting mandate. In her report, Mkhwebane instructed Parliament to initiate a process that would result in the Bank’s mandate changing from one that focuses on protecting the value of the currency in the interest of economic growth, to one that focuses on protecting citizens’ socioeconomic wellbeing and advancing socioeconomic tr...
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