EFF wants state control of the Reserve Bank
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has called for the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) to be nationalised after the Monetary Policy Committee took the decision to up the repo rate by 0.25%, to 7% on Thursday.
The EFF said it is concerned by rising food price inflation that affect largely the poor majority, most of whom only survive on social grants. “There is no reasonable justification for excessive rise in food prices,” it said in a statement.
“What is apparent is that supermarket chains like Shoprite, Pick ’n Pay and others including food producers are driven by greed and profiteering motives without any social consideration to the large majority who live in poverty and struggle to afford food.”
The political party pointed to a report by Moneyweb in November 2015 indicated that 100 largest companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were sitting on a cash pile of R400 billion.
“Among the companies with large cash reserves generated from disgusting greed are supermarket chains such as Pick ’n Pay, Shoprite, Spar and Woolworths who are hoarding over R11 billion,” the EFF said.
It said that the SARB’s decision is further punishment on the poor and vulnerable. “The EFF rejects unimaginative interventions by the SARB to economic problems that are the consequence of corporate greed and exploitation of poor majority in the country.”
It added that current rand volatility “is a domestic problem arising out of the reckless and irresponsible ANC government, especially its illegitimate president, Jacob Zuma, whose criminal decisions have brought us to where we are”.
The party called for immediate economic policy intervention to “ensure that companies listed on the JSE that are hoarding billions of cash are reinvesting in the economy”.
“The EFF offers the SARB free monetary policy advice that interest rates must be left unchanged going forward in order to spur growth and for the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, to immediately formulate measures to arrest corporate greed and exploitative profiteering that is causing unwarranted food price inflation.
“More importantly, that money sitting idling bank accounts of listed companies must be reinvested in the economy,” the EFF said.
“The announcement by the SARB governor, Lesetja Kganyango, reaffirms the position of the EFF that the SARB must be nationalised given its strategic role in the economy and for inflation targeting to be abandoned in favour of incentivisation of the increased money supply into productive and manufacturing sectors of the economy that should create jobs and grow the economy without exploitative profiteering,” the party said.