It's not like the SARB hid this. It was major headline news at the time. When Bankorp collapsed (despite the bailout funds in question now), the Reserve Bank debt was a major hurdle to the ABSA buy-out of portions of Bankorp. ABSA made it plain that if the Reserve Bank debt came with the assets they were buying, there would be no deal.

Why the SARB decided not to force the issue I can only guess. Probably the biggest clue is most of the civil service of the day in Pretoria banked at Volkskas, and their personal bank accounts were frozen.

Somewhere in Thabo Mbeki's term as President, I recall this was looked at again with a view to pursuing recovery of the loan from ABSA. And the government of the day decided to drop it. I don't recall a reason being given as to exactly why it wasn't deemed worthy to pursue further, though. Either there's a rock solid legal obstacle that prevents recovery, or yet another deal was done. (Probably worth noting that probably wouldn't have involved the SARB, but rather the political connections of the day).

What fascinates me is why is Barclays dragged into the current story? They had disinvested in SA at the time and had no interest in ABSA, or Bankorp, or anything else in the sorry mess. They only bought ABSA more than a decade later. Insinuating their involvement sounds like grounds for a good libel lawsuit, I'd think.