Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago has taken a swipe at the populism and anti-constitutionalism that emerged during last year’s election.
That, he said on Tuesday, targeted parts of SA’s accountability ecosystem.
The governor did not mention the MK party specifically but critics of the party have referred to its populism and agenda to change the constitution. The party would also like to nationalise the Reserve Bank.
In a speech accepting his conferral of an honorary doctorate of philosophy in education by Walter Sisulu University, Kganyago said this trend represented a “peril” for SA's democracy.
Kganyago highlighted the importance of university independence, which came under attack during apartheid, and pointed to the pressure placed on US universities by the Trump administration in the US.
“US universities are not the only ones under strain, with research suggesting that academic freedom has declined in several other democracies in recent years,” he said.
“Having led the SA Reserve Bank for just over a decade now, I have come to understand that institutions often come under attack when they shed light on some or other dereliction of duty elsewhere,” Kganyago said.
“Whether it be a government’s failure to uphold the rights of its citizens or its stated democratic ideals, or a financial institution’s neglect to safeguard people’s money, the attacker’s response is often the same: a strike at the target’s independence.
“As we know, independence is sacred, especially for those institutions that hold a mirror up to power, as universities so often do.”
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