It’s time for the ANC to move on from standing resolutions on the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank and expropriation of land without compensation as it has failed to implement them despite adopting them five years ago.
This is the bold assertion of ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe, which he expressed during an interview with the Sunday Times on the sidelines of the ANC national policy conference that’s due to end today.
While the conference was yet to reach a decision on the issue at the time of publication, Mantashe’s position could spell disaster for the radical economic transformation (RET) faction that’s opposed to him and President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Nationalisation of the Bank and expropriation of land without compensation have long been the anchors of the RET campaigns, but now those in Ramaphosa’s corner are dismissing them as impossible to implement.
Mantashe said that after trying in vain in parliament to amend section 25 of the constitution to allow for the expropriation of land without compensation, it was time for the ANC to use existing legislative and other tools to address the land reform question. This would be done through the Expropriation Bill now before parliament.
Amending the constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote in parliament, which the ANC has so far failed to secure. Negotiations with the EFF collapsed when Julius Malema's party wanted all land to be under state ownership — something the ANC disagrees with.
To pass the Expropriation Bill, which provides for the expropriation of land in the public interest — in some cases with zero compensation — and gives the courts authority in expropriation cases, only a simple majority is required.
Mantashe said this weekend’s policy conference was not a platform to reopen the debate on issues such as amending section 25 of the constitution and nationalising or expanding the mandate of the Bank.
“When you assess the implementation of resolutions, you must do a detailed analysis,” said Mantashe. “Let me give you an example, expropriation of land without compensation. You can’t talk about that here without acknowledging that there was a serious effort to amend section 25 of the constitution.
“We didn’t get a two-thirds majority in parliament, therefore we must look to other alternatives to do so; so that’s implementation.”
Mantashe said there was no appetite for another attempt to amend section 25.
“You must use existing tools first of all, and not look for other tools when you have not tested existing tools, and give people land.”
On a proposal from ANC branches to reopen the debate into broadening the mandate of the Bank, Mantashe said the ANC needed to be careful not to “bankrupt” the institution for ideological reasons.
You must use existing tools first of all, and not look for other tools when you have not tested existing tools, and give people land
— ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe
Some sections of the party want the Bank’s mandate to be broadened from a narrow focus on inflation targeting. They want the central bank to also support the economy and jobs.
Delegates to the ANC elective conference in 2017 resolved that the Bank be nationalised as it was one of the few central banks in the world partly privatly owned. However, the private shareholders have no say on monetary policy or the operations of the bank.
Mantashe said some Bank shareholders were pushing for nationalisation so they could cash in.
“We’ve done an assessment and we discovered people who are shareholders there who want to inflate what they should benefit out of that decision. And we must be careful not to bankrupt the Reserve Bank on the basis of just ideological thinking.”
He noted that the ANC had failed to implement other 2017 resolutions, such as setting up a state pharmaceutical company and a state-owned mining company.
“All of them, you will see that we’ve looked into them, we tried to implement ... the pharmaceutical company, the mining company ... so that will be reported here [to delegates].”
This development would be welcomed by ANC leaders such as former finance minister Tito Mboweni, who has always opposed any attempt to nationalise the central bank.
Former president Thabo Mbeki, who spent the weekend at the policy conference, also dismissed the resolution on the nationalisation of the Bank two years ago, arguing there would be nothing to gain from doing so.
However just after 7pm last night, the chairperson of the ANC’s economic transformation committee, Mamoloko Kubayi told the media that the more than 2000 delegates at the policy conference urged party leaders not to dump moves to amend section 25 of the constitution.
Kubayi said delegates said ANC leaders should lobby other parties in parliament to support it after talks with the EFF collapsed.
“Delegates felt that we shouldn’t dump this because they believe that it was important, the amendment of section 25. We have reported that you’re able to expropriate currently if it’s for public interest. For example minister of human settlement is able to expropriate currently to deal with issues of human settlements. The expropriation bill that is currently before parliament is another (policy) area that will assist us…but we’ll continue to engage delegates to try and find a unified voice as we go towards the national conference,” said Kubayi.
On the reserve bank, Kubayi said delegates were told that nationalisation of the reserve was not urgent priority given the serious financial implications of doing so by buying out its current private shareholders.
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