Enoch Godongwana said there was general agreement that the Reserve Bank remaining in private hands was an anomaly and that its independence should be guaranteed.
Expropriation without compensation and nationalising the Reserve Bank are among the contentious policy options that have been put on the table at the ANC policy conference.
Briefing media on the policy discussion outcomes on Wednesday afternoon, the party’s economic transformation committee head, Enoch Godongwana, said there was a general consensus that quick measures needed to be implemented to restore land to the people.
It was suggested the quickest route is expropriation without compensation but there was disagreement in the commission with other members noting the provisions of the Constitution were sufficient and that implementation could be sped up without the need for a constitutional change. “These are the proposals that will be taken to the branches,” Godongwana said.
He said the party would continue with its research to ensure it took an informed decision on the matter.
Godongwana said there was general agreement that the Reserve Bank remaining in private hands was an anomaly. The proposal agrees the independence of the Reserve Bank should be guaranteed.
He said this discussion was not new and had been raised by unions years ago.
The commission also discussed the mining charter, which is subject to a legal challenge, and although there was no disagreement about the level of black ownership it required, the issue, Godongwana told the Mail & Guardian, is how to fund it.
The commission has also added to the policy proposals the issue of prescribed assets, which compels investors to invest in ways that assist the government in its funding pressures.