Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago has called on South Africans to rally behind the central bank and fight for its independence.
This follows a proposal by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) to nationalise the bank.
Kganyago has been targeted by Nelson Mandela Bay councillor Andile Lungisa for his stance. In a series of Tweets Lungisa described Kganyago as “a lackey of racist people” and used the K-word.
Lesetja Kganyago, a dutiful servant of our racialist classes supérieures, is an ardent disciple of the neoliberal dystopia that has condemned millions of African people to a desolate existence. pic.twitter.com/PIGccIS6R5
— Andile Lungisa (@mrlungisa) June 6, 2019
The governor has since filed a defamation lawsuit against Lungisa.
We have entered the realm of the absurd. The governor of the Reserve Bank is suing me for R500k because I correctly characterized him and his ilk as useful idiots of settler capital.
CounterRevolutionaryLawfare pic.twitter.com/BczRtA92oI— Andile Lungisa (@mrlungisa) August 13, 2019
Lesetja cavalierly calls ANC members ‘barbarians at the gate’ for calling for the nationalization of the SARB, but cries and takes refuge in courts when we return his insults with facts.
— Andile Lungisa (@mrlungisa) August 13, 2019
Kganyago has vowed to defend the Reserve Bank’s independence.
“When you listen to people who motivate this thing they started talking about the mandate of the bank. As we have consistently said what is important is the mandate of the bank, is the independence of the bank and it should not just be those of us who are in the central bank. We should rise and defend the institution should it come under attack. Actually, I think correctly South Africans should actually rise and say, not in the name of our institution.”
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