Competition Commission: Banks must tell us we're crazy
The Competition Commission says banks accused of manipulating the rand are yet to file answering affidavits.
The banks, which include South African banks Standard Bank, Investec and Barclays Africa, were referred to the Competition Tribunal in February.
The commission held a media briefing at the Gordon Institute of Business Sciences ahead of its policy conference.
The commission's head, Tembinkosi Bonakele, says the banks have not provided them with any answers.
"We are eagerly awaiting for banks to file answers. This case was referred in February this year and to date not a single bank has answered on the merits of the case. I don't know if there is hope that somehow this will go away, they must tell if we are crazy" says Bonakele.
He says they are waiting for the banks to argue their case.
"I don't know if its lawyers misleading the banks telling them somehow they can manage to have this case go away. That is a dream and this may take years and of course the banks will be in the spotlight for years. We have patience for this and what we want is an answer on what happened at the trading desks of these banks."
He says the matter is currently with the Competition Tribunal, where they are dealing with issues around legislation.
"We are going to a hearing and what is remaining is whether South African competition authorities have jurisdiction over conduct that happened outside the country. We will argue that 'yes', because it is the South African rand and its value does affect our citizens."