The utterances of the Public Protector (PP) and the minister of mineral resources have put the Rand and the stock markets under pressure and one cannot help but wonder whether this is intentional so as to benefit the ANC, says adv. Anton Alberts, chairperson of the FF Plus as well as parliamentary spokesperson for finance.
The FF Plus is going to request that the Financial Services Board and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to launch an investigation to see if anyone has conducted any short-selling transactions on the movement of the Rand, which occurred as a result of the PP’s statements about the Reserve Bank yesterday.
Adv. Alberts says that the PP’s pronouncement that the Reserve Bank’s Constitutional mandate needs to be revised so that it focuses more on protecting the public than on protecting the currency had an adverse effect on the Rand.
He says that anyone who knew that the Rand was going to be negatively affected in advance would have been able to make capital out of Rand trade-related transactions that short sell the currency. The PP is thoroughly aware of her mandate and the fact that she cannot dictate what legislation should look like to the executive or legislative authorities. And yet her report had a great influence on the foreign exchange market.
Similarly, the publication of the mining charter by Minister Mosebenzi Zwane last Thursday wiped out R51 billion in mining shares in just one day.
“The Minister knew what effect the charter would have and that it would have a negative effect on mining shares. The same is true for any other person that knew about it beforehand and that wanted to position themselves so that they can easily snatch up mining shares at a discount.
“The ANC has stated on the record that it wants the government and even more black industrialists to participate in the economy.
“Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the government itself will snatch up some of the mining shares that are currently under pressure. Or if the so-called ‘black industrialists’ will snatch up the said mining shares with financing from the Industrial Development Corporation and/or the Public Investment Corporation that manage billions of Rands of the Government Employee Pension Fund, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and the Compensation Fund.
“These attacks on the sectors of “power”, as identified by the ANC, cannot be coincidental. It is widely known that the ANC, like the EFF, desires control of the banking and mining sectors in South Africa. In contrast to the EFF, though, the ANC does not speak openly about expropriation, but they are doing something very similar by implementing legislation that gradually places more restrictions on property rights. In effect, they are busy with creeping expropriation.
“It is also quite possible that the ANC is purposefully creating an environment in which this creeping expropriation can take place by weakening the markets. The weaker markets afford wealthy and politically-connected buyers the opportunity to make capital out of the movement of the Rand on the one hand as well as out of buying shares when the prices have been forced down on the other hand; just like Optimum was forced into bankruptcy by ESKOM so that Tegeta and Oakbay could make the purchase.
“In the light of all of this, the FF Plus will request the Financial Services Board and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to investigate who has conducted any short-selling transactions on the movement of the Rand resulting from the PP’s report. We will also keep an eye out for anyone buying mining shares with the help of the Industrial Development Corporation and/or the Public Investment Corporation,” says adv. Alberts.
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