JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s central bank said on Tuesday a recommendation by the Public Protector to change the constitution to promote growth was unlawful and would hit the regulator’s independence by stripping it of its key aim to protect the currency.

“The Reserve Bank has consulted its legal team and has been advised that the remedial action prescribed by the Public Protector falls outside her powers and is unlawful,” it said in a statement.

It would take urgent legal action, it added.

On Monday, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane proposed a change to the bank’s mandate as part of her findings on an apartheid-era bailout of a bank that was subsequently bought by Absa, now a unit of Barclays Africa Group.

http://cnbc.africa/news/financial/2017/06/19/barclays-africa-says-no-obligation-pay-sa-govt/

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Editing by Ed Cropley)