Ordinary South Africans and analysts have taken to social media to demand accountability against the country’s banks for having manipulated the value of the rand in order to gain.
The banks are estimated to have collectively gained up to a trillion rand by colluding to have the value of the currency drop significantly over a ten-year period.
Among those accused of a cover up is Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago and his predecessor Tito Mboweni who went on to serve as Finance Minister as well.
Mboweni who is yet to comment on the banking sector’s admission, led the charge in shutting down a judicial investigation that had been instituted by then President Thabo Mbeki after it was reported to him by Kevin Wakeford who was at the time, the CEO of the SA Chamber of Business.
Mboweni launched a series of attacks on the whistleblower, even creating an impression that he was mentally ill and was imagining things.
It was again Mboweni who during his tenure as Finance Minister, shot down calls by the EFF to have commercial banks probed for manipulating the rand. Mboweni, claimed at the time there was no evidence of such collusion and just as he did in the case of Wakeford, he ridiculed the EFF for sounding alarm.
When the President Jacob Zuma brought up the allegations again in 2016 his finance minister Pravin Gordhan defended the banks and shot down any suggestions of a probe.
Gordhan is yet to comment and the cabinet through minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has accused the banks of leading a private sector campaign to topple the ANC government as alleged by Zuma seven years ago.
“Those who were responsible for manipulating the rand should be brought to book because this is a clear attempt to delegitimise and eventually topple the ANC government,” said Ntshavheni during a post cabinet meeting media briefing on Monday in Pretoria.
“The government gets (rightly) dragged for corruption, fiscal mismanagement, fraud & financial crime but we NEED to keep the same energy for the private sector – run by the sharpest minds engaging in similar activities on a bigger scale using sophisticated financial tools”, a user posted on social media platform X.
The EFF remains the only political party to speak out against the manipulation of the rand while the rest of the political parties have remained silent. The media and market analysts have also not mentioned much of the scandal.
Some ordinary South Africans have called for leading banking executives to be charged with treason.