Page 151 - SARB: 100-Year Journey

On 27 April 1994, South Africans of all races voted in the historic general election for a democratic government. Long lines formed at voting stations around the country during that fateful day. Here, South Africans are pictured lining up at a voting station in Alexandra, Johannesburg. /Rapport Archives/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Reserve Bank. There was a team of people. Work was done because we needed to get into the Reserve Bank. Once in government, we needed to take responsibility for, among other things, the Reserve Bank.”
On the question of SARB independence within the ANC umbrella, “there wasn’t unanimity about it,” is Manuel’s recollection.
In quite an extraordinary twist, “two members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party were sent to negotiate that clause, and those two were Alec Irwin and Rob Davies. [They informed] the National Executive Committee that they successfully negotiated the independence of the Reserve Bank. All of this precedes 1994,” Manuel said.
Ramos’s version of events is similar. “The wording that ended up in the Constitution around the independence of the central bank, and in the interim Constitution, was wording that was agreed by the National Executive Committee.”
There were pragmatic reasons for wanting to get to grips with finance and the central bank. The ANC anticipated an electoral victory in the run-up to the 1994 general election, the first to include all of South Africa’s races. There were also
important matters such as the overall state of the economy and the urgent need for its renewal.
“Coming into 1994, the idea was that we would all go into government as soon as we could,” said Momoniat. “I was involved towards the end of 1993, early part of 1994 before the election, ... [in] preparing for the first budget of the new democratic government, if the ANC won.” He adds: “I’m not sure it’s correct to say that we were in a depression. But we had high inflation, low growth, we were running huge deficits, and we had balance of payments problems.”
However, the ANC government was an unknown quantity in terms of its economic record. It was a liberation movement. “For investors in the market, it was unknown. I guess they feared the worst, given the political rhetoric. I came from that political background as well, so I didn’t see myself as an economist first. I saw myself as a political activist first,” Momoniat said.
No matter, the National Executive Committee had made its decision about central bank independence. The interim Constitution was assented to in early 1994. South Africa’s first democratic elections were held on 27 April 1994.
141