POLL | Will Reserve Bank ever be nationalised?

The ANC's willingness to implement some of its longstanding resolutions aimed at transforming the financial sector came under the spotlight when party and country President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his political report at the beginning of the party's 55th national conference.

Ramaphosa spoke about the five-year-old resolution that involved the nationalisation of the SA Reserve Bank and a decades-old resolution on the corporatisation of the Post Bank.

He told ANC delegates gathering at Nasrec, Johannesburg, that the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank should take place in a manner that will not have a negative financial consequences for South Africans. His comments came five years after the party resolved in the 54th national conference that the central bank should be nationalised.

"In early 2019, the NEC held extensive discussions about how to implement the 54th national conference resolution on the public ownership of the South African Reserve Bank."

"The NEC (national executive committee) reaffirmed the need to address the historical anomaly of private shareholding in the bank (SARB) and agreed that the bank should be fully owned by the people of SA.

"That's agreed. The NEC also agreed that the manner and the pace at which this happens needs to take into account the significant financial implications and our country's current fiscal position. It also needs to ensure, as the [54th] conference stated, that this process doesn't benefit private shareholder speculators who are looking to make a fortune at the expense of our country's people," said Ramaphosa.

In 2019 he was quoted by SowetanLIVE's sister publication BusinessLIVE saying the central bank will remain independent.

"The independence, standing and the role of the Reserve Bank, is sacrosanct and will remain independent," said Ramaphosa, during a meeting with business leaders.

He added that it was imperative to transform the financial sector by implementing the party's resolution, which was taken decades ago, of corporatising the Post Office.

"The transformation of the financial sector is a priority if we are to ensure that all South Africans have access to banking services and finance. Among our longstanding resolutions, is the establishment of a state bank that will be able more effectively than commercial banks to service the poor in our country and advance our country's developmental needs. It is for this reason that we need to pursue and finalise the corporatisation of the Post Bank to fulfill this function," he said. 

"The Post Bank is our bank, state-owned, which has a great network throughout the country and which very much used by the poor in our country."