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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Shareholders do not control the South African Reserve Bank

An extract from the remarks by Dr Monde Mnyande, Advisor to the Governor and Chief Economist of the South African Reserve BankBank, presented at the Leadership Forum of Airports Company South Africa on 12 March 2010

There has been much discussion in the media about the private shareholders of the South African Reserve Bank following on comments by the Secretary-General of the Governing Party Mr Gwede Mantashe. There still appears to be a lot of uncertainty notwithstanding a press release by the Bank on 25 January 2010 to clarify the matter.

To put my remarks in perspective, the central banks of, among others, Italy, Japan, Pakistan and South Africa, are institutions with shareholders other than their respective governments. The Bank is an institution created by statute, with the status of an independent legal person, which may not be liquidated other than by an Act of Parliament. Its independence is entrenched in the Constitution and it is not owned by anyone but by South Africans. In that sense it belongs to the country as a whole and control of the SARB is exercised between its shareholders and Government in a manner whereby the latter, in normal circumstances, may exercise ultimate control over the SARB. Furthermore, the SARB Act does not grant shareholders any authority to remove directors. By virtue of the fact that the Bank is a statutory institution, the shareholders are also unable, by means of a resolution or otherwise, to amend or change the Bank’s constitution.


The SARB Act determines that the Bank shall be managed by the Board and that the Governors and Deputy Governors must devote the whole of their time to the business of the Bank. The Board consists of a Governor, three Deputy Governors and three other directors, all appointed by the President of the Republic (after consultation with the Minister of Finance and the Board), and seven other directors, appointed by the shareholders.

Individual shareholders are prevented from exercising undue influence over the control of the SARB by virtue of the prescription that no shareholder may hold more than 10 000 shares in the Bank. They also receive a fixed dividend at a rate of 10 cents per annum on the value of their shares held, provided that profits are realised. Voting is restricted to one vote for every 200 shares held, with a maximum of 50 votes per individual shareholder, which votes may be exercised at meetings of shareholders of the Bank.

The concept of shareholding in the Bank is based exclusively on principles of shared community representation and participation in the oversight of the Bank, for purposes of increased independence, transparency and accountability, in the ultimate interest of the general public of the RSA. SARB shareholders should therefore at all times exercise their powers in accordance with these principles and avoid any actions that could be construed as an attempt by them to abuse their undue powers for purposes of self-interest and own enrichment.

The Bank has a unitary board structure.

See the full speech by Monde Mnyande

8 comments:

  1. Last Updated: 2003-02-17
    Ownership of the South African Reserve Bank
    Since its establishment, the Reserve Bank has always been privately owned. Today the Bank has more than 630 shareholders and its shares are traded on an Over the counter share transfer facility market (OTCSTF market) co-ordinated within the Reserve Bank. Except for the provision of the SA Reserve Bank Act that no individual shareholder may hold more than 10 000 shares of the total number of 2 000 000 issued shares, there is no limitation on shareholding.

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  2. I have been reading about the SARB and my understanding was that the reserve bank has shareholders other than the government itself. I also read that as of today there are more than 660 shareholders and no individual shareholder may hold more than 10000 shares of the total number of 2000000 issued shares. The other thing I read was that seven directors of the SARB board are appointed by the shareholders. Having read this I had questions which I couldn’t find answers to and that’s why I have written this email. The questions I have are as follows:

    1. How many shares out of 2000000 does the government hold?
    2. Which foreign institutions hold SARB shares? Could I have a list please?
    3. Could we know who the more than 660 shareholders are? I’m not interested how much each has share, I know according to the policy each cannot have more than 10, 000 shares.
    4. Wouldn’t it be important for the public to know who are these shareholders who appoints directors of the board?

    I’d appreciate you favourable response.

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  3. We need to amend the Act of Parliament regarding ownership of the reserve bank. We can’t have foreign institutions controlling our moneys. It is not a good thing for a central bank to be privately owned. “Let me issue and control a nation’s money and I care not who writes its laws.” Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744-1812). We have seen what happens when we have such institutions who privately finance world wars and destabilize people’s lives for the sake of profiting. The reserve bank needs to be nationalised. We can do everything the currently the reserve bank does and we don't need foreign institutions doing that.

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  4. Check this link for the list of shareholders.

    http://www.docstoc.com/docs/70194276/South-African-Reserve-Bank-Shareholders-Index-Report---South

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  5. I guarantee you that the likes of the rothschilds and rockerfellers have deep inside control over SARB. Crashing the market to serve their profiteering at the cost to the SA people. Atleast P W Botha had the gonads to tell them to fuck off

    Want some truth in your life? Read "the biggest secret" & "and the truth shall set you free" by david icke

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    Replies
    1. Of course the Rothschilds do. Anyone that denies it outright without considering other info is usually a paid shill/troll (one of millions worldwide on our various shadow government payrolls, incl here in SA)-so I'd instantly dismiss them. Read a little on what an ex director of SARB, Stephen Goodson, had to say about last week's fraudulent elections, for starters. And research further about what he says about money. Most revealing.
      http://goldsalchemy.blogspot.com/

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