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The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services has welcomed the court ruling on the mandate and powers of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), as it provides clarity on separation of powers.

Committee Chairperson Dr Mathole Motshekga said South Africa’s financial environment needs clarity for the sake of foreign investment. “More importantly, it speaks directly to what the remedial action of the Public Protector can entail and what is excluded from this. It speaks to the boundaries of the remedial action of the Public Protector.”

Dr Motshekga’s comments follow the court verdict today in which the SARB won its application to have the Public Protector's remedial action to change its constitutional mandate set aside. The judgment comes a few days before 18 August, the deadline that the SARB and Parliament were given to respond to the Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s remedial action.

The judge also said that the obligation placed on the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services and the SARB to submit an action plan is set aside.

During the hearing on 1 August, the SARB opposed Adv Mkhwebane’s order, which was part of a Public Protector report released in June based on an investigation into the Bankorp bailout during the apartheid era. The Public Protector ordered the Bank’s mandate to be changed to ensure the socioeconomic wellbeing of citizens and to achieve socioeconomic transformation.

However, the Bank contested this remedial action on several grounds, among these that it falls outside the Public Protector’s powers and breached the separation of powers because it encroached on Parliament’s exclusive domain. It was also not related to the subject of the Public Protector’s investigation.

Dr Motshekga said: “The Committee firmly agrees with the court decision that the remedial action of the Public Protector in this regard moved onto a terrain that is solely for Parliament to decide on. The Committee welcomes the decision, as it is not just in favour of the SARB, but also in favour of Parliament, as it speaks to the separation of powers.”

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Service, Mathole Motshekga