Lynda Loxton
Fresh from its public row with the Reserve Bank over its criticism of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, the Congress of South African Trade Unions this week gave notice to Parliament that it wants a review of the role and policies of the central bank.
The bank earned the wrath of Cosatu when it, albeit mildly, criticised the controversial Bill in its latest quarterly review, stating that it would add to labour costs and not help to solve South Africa’s growing unemployment problems.
Cosatu’s parliamentary officer Neil Coleman tried to take advantage of this week’s hearing by the finance committee on a Bill amending the Central Bank Act to try to make a broader submission on the bank and its role in the economy.
Committee members, pressed for time and aware of protocol, quickly stopped him but promised that time would be made for such a submission “in the near future”.
But he was allowed to comment on the Bill itself, which dealt with lifting some of the secrecy surrounding the bank’s ability to disclose details about relations with client banks.
Coleman said Cosatu agreed with most African National Congress members that the proposed amendment to the secrecy clause preventing the bank from revealing details of lifeboat or rescue operations for banks did not go far enough.
ANC amendment to the Bill broadening the scope of what could be revealed was later accepted by the committee.
Coleman gave some hints as to what he wanted to cover in the special hearing on the bank.
“Obviously, when we come to our broader submission on the issues that we had wanted to raise, we would argue that the question of the accountability of the bank more broadly to society and to the elected government is related mostly to the degree of transparency that is possible within the obvious limitations placed on the bank in terms of the need for confidentiality.
“And obviously one also needs to see this in the light of the background of the perceptions of the public of the relationship between the central bank and the financial institutions in the country and the type of abuses and corruption that have occurred in the past.”
The finance committee hearing on the bank is likely to also include submissions from the Council of South African Banks and the Reserve Bank itself.