Tito Mboweni

Tito Titus Mboweni[1] (born 16 March 1959) is the current Minister of Finance of South Africa. Mboweni was the eighth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank and the first Black South African to hold the post. He was sworn in as Minister of Finance on 9 October 2018, following Nhlanhla Nene's resignation.[2][3]

Tito Mboweni
Mboweni speaking at the World Economic Forum on Africa, 2011
Minister of Finance
Incumbent
Assumed office 9 October 2018
President	Cyril Ramaphosa
Deputy	Mondli Gungubele
Preceded by	Nhlanhla Nene
Governor of the South African Reserve Bank
In office 8 August 1999 – 8 November 2009
Preceded by	Chris Stals
Succeeded by	Gill Marcus
Minister of Labour
In office 1994–1999
President	Nelson Mandela
Personal details
Born	Tito Titus Mboweni[1] (1959-03-16) 16 March 1959 Tzaneen, Limpopo, South Africa
Children	3
Alma mater	National University of Lesotho University of East Anglia

Mboweni is currently a founder member of Mboweni Brothers Investment Holdings and international advisor of Goldman Sachs International.[4] He has been appointed as a non executive Director for South Africa at the New Development Bank (BRICS Development Bank).

Early life and career

The youngest of three children, Tito Mboweni was born on 16 March 1959.[5] He grew up in Tzaneen in the then Transvaal Province. He attended the University of the North between 1979 and 1980, where he registered for a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He did not complete his studies there and left South Africa to go into exile in 1980.

While in exile in Lesotho, Mboweni joined the African National Congress (ANC), South Africa's current governing party, and was an activist for the party in many capacities. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in economics and political science from the National University of Lesotho in 1985. In 1988 he obtained a Master of Arts in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia in England.

Political career

Prior to his appointment as Minister of Labour, Mboweni was Deputy Head of the Department of Economic Policy in the ANC. He also represented the ANC on several domestic and international platforms. Mboweni was a member of the ANC's National Executive and National Working Committees and was also Chairperson of the National Executive Committee's Economic Transformation Committee, which coordinated the development of ANC economic policies.

Mboweni served as Minister of Labour from May 1994 to July 1998 in South African President Nelson Mandela's cabinet. While Minister of Labour Mboweni was the architect of South Africa's post-Apartheid labour legislation,[4] which allowed for collective bargaining and the establishment of labour courts.[6] He became one of the World Economic Forums Global Leaders of Tomorrow in 1995.

In 1997 Mboweni was appointed head of the ANC's Policy Department which was responsible for managing ANC policy processes. Upon joining the South African Reserve Bank, he resigned all of his elected and appointed positions in the ANC.

Mboweni joined the South African Reserve Bank in July 1998 as Advisor to the Governor. On 8 August 1999 he succeeded Dr. Chris Stals as Governor of the Reserve Bank. As governor, he oversaw the launch of the inflation targeting policy to help the bank achieve price stability and dealt with the rand's plunge due to global and local events.[6]

During his tenure, Mboweni was appointed honorary Professor of Economics at the University of South Africa for 2000 to 2003. The Governor was also elected Chancellor of the University of the North-West and was installed as Chancellor on 23 February 2002. The University of Stellenbosch appointed the Governor Professor Extraordinary in Economics for the period 1 April 2002 to 31 March 2005.

Career in the private sector

In June 2010, Mboweni was appointed an International Adviser of Goldman Sachs International, where he provided strategic advice to the firm on business development opportunities, with a particular focus on South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.[7] He also served as chairman of bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti, among other company directorships.[6]

Minister of Finance, 2018–present

On 9 October 2018, Mboweni was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new Minister of Finance of the Republic of South Africa with immediate effect[3] following Nhlanhla Nene's resignation.[8] From the beginning of his tenure Mboweni often found himself at odds with the ruling ANC policy and ideology. The ruling ANC has always inclined itself towards socialist policies, a stance which has been viewed as a form of appeasing its alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and COSATU. On the other hand, Mboweni has continuously proffered liberal solutions such as his 2019 economic recovery growth plan which has been rejected by SACP and COSATU.[9]

His economic growth plan was widely criticised in the Public Sector. In an opinion piece, Telkom Group CEO Sipho Maseko slammed Mboweni's proposed reforms for the ICT sector, particularly plans related to the rollout of spectrum, as being "ill-thought-out".[10] However the response was different in the private sector, CEO of Bridgement Daniel Goldberg during his Sage tour to Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban hailed the plan, saying "it will improve the rate at which big state owned enterprises pays its suppliers consequently increasing efficiency in the economy.[11] Phumlani Majozi in his opinion piece on Finance 24 argued that "Mboweni's ideas on how to revamp this economy, presented in his recent paper, titled "Economic Transformation, Inclusive Growth and Competitiveness: Towards an Economic Strategy for South Africa", are what will get this country back on track."[12]

Other activities

• World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2018)[13]
• Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (since 2018)[14]
• Asia School of Business, Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015)[15]

Recognition

• 2015 – Honorary professor, School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand[16]
• 2001 – Honorary Doctorate of Economics, University of Natal

References

1. "Executive Profile – Tito Titus Mboweni BA, MA". Bloomberg Businessweek.
2. Menon, Sunita (October 9, 2018). "Business lauds Tito Mboweni as a 'credible' finance minister". Business Day. Retrieved October 10, 2018.
3. "Meet Tito Mboweni, the new Finance Minister of SA". IOL. October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
4. "Tito Mboweni". Businessweek. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
5. "Tito Mboweni | Who's Who SA". Whoswho.co.za. Retrieved 2012-10-15.
6. Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo (October 10, 2018), Ex-central banker Mboweni takes on South Africa's hobbling economy Reuters.
7. "Tito Mboweni joins Goldman Sachs". Mail & Guardian. April 26, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
8. "NEWS JUST IN: Nhanhla Nene resigns from his post as Finance Minister". IOL. October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
9. Mkhwananzi, Siyabonga (1 September 2019). "https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/tito-mboweni-under-fire-over-economic-growth-plan-31627079". IOL. Retrieved 6 October 2019. External link in |title= (help)
10. Omarjee, Lameez (2 September 2019). "'Chaotic, incoherent': Telkom CEO slams Mboweni's growth plan". News24.
11. "The State of Fintech and SMEs in South Africa – 2019". Bridgement. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
12. Majozi, Phumlani (4 October 2019). "OPINION: Mboweni is the only rational minister in Ramaphosa's lousy government". Finance 24.
13. Board of Governors World Bank.
14. 2019 Members Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee.
15. Board of Governors: Tito Titus Mboweni Asia School of Business.
16. "Tito Mboweni to join Wits University". sowetanlive. Retrieved 23 December 2017.

External links

• Tito Mboweni biography, at African National Congress site, retrieved 2008-08-20

Political offices
Preceded by Nhlanhla Nene	Minister of Finance 2018–	Incumbent