Opinion / Editorials EDITORIAL: The ANC’s Reserve Bank red herring The ANC has no cogent argument for its stance on the SA Reserve Bank, which entails the hackneyed calls to ‘nationalise’ it as well as ‘review its mandate’ BL PREMIUM

The ANC has no cogent argument for its stance on the SA Reserve Bank, which entails the hackneyed calls to "nationalise" it as well as "review its mandate". The lack of any logical underpinning to this attack on the Bank lays bare how those lobbyists have rather unsavoury motives.The reality is, the ruling party is divided over the future of the central bank. One faction wants to alter the way the bank acts to force it to take into account "other factors" when setting interest rates; another wants to leave it entirely alone.The fact that this issue is even still alive at all, let alone the subject of a raging factional battle, is an indictment of the governing party. It betrays a stark lack of understanding of the institution’s role — which is scary since it raises the question of how illiterate ANC leaders are about the functioning of other critical institutions too.The ANC faction aligned to former president Jacob Zuma first set its sights on the Bank shortly before the party’s 20...