ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: The perils of populists taking control of central banking
Those calling for the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank have not produced any evidence that this would be conducive to economic expansion
At the time of writing, we are not sure who will be in the cabinet of the sixth administration of SA’s democratic era. Setting aside questions about individual cabinet appointments, we can reflect briefly on what has happened over the past several months and what is at stake in the coming weeks and months. We can look specifically at the future of the SA Reserve Bank and at populist attempts to nationalise the institution. Some of this may be intuitive, but the bargaining over cabinet positions and office bearers started a few months ago. In some cases, it started in January last year. The bargaining and negotiations took place across and within a range of theatres: in the state and in corporate boardrooms, among trade unionists and political leaders, and among friends and family. To get a sense of these talks, imagine a nest of concentric circles of power, with President Cyril Ramaphosa and a very small group at the centre. Decision-making, influence and consultations periodicall...
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