Tito Mboweni

Tito Mboweni
Born	16 March 1959
Nationality	South African
Alma mater	National University of Lesotho, University of East Anglia
Member of	Goldman Sachs/International Advisors, WEF/Global Leaders for Tomorrow/1995
Party	African National Congress
Selected Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 1995 - Governor of the South African Reserve Bank - Goldman Sachs - Minister of Finance  South Africa/Minister/Finance In office 9 October 2018 - 5 August 2021  Governor of the South African Reserve Bank In office 8 August 1999 - 8 November 2009  Advisor In office June 2010, - 2018 Employer Goldman Sachs  South Africa/Minister/Labour In office 1994 - 1999

Tito Titus Mboweni is a South African politician who served as Minister of Finance of South Africa in the government of President Cyril Ramaphosa from 2018 to 2021. He was selected a Global Leaders for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in 1995.

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.

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

Background

The youngest of three children, Tito Mboweni was born on 16 March 1959. 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.

Career

Politics

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, which allowed for collective bargaining and the establishment of labour courts. 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.

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.

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. He also served as chairman of bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti, among other company directorships.

Minister of Finance, 2018–2021

On 9 October 2018, Mboweni was announced by fellow WEF Global Leader for Tomorrow President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new Minister of Finance of the Republic of South Africa with immediate effect following Nhlanhla Nene's resignation. 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.

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". 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. 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."

In June 2020, Mboweni proposed a new austerity policy, to cut the state's wage bill of R160.2 billion over three years and to adopt a Zero-based budget system in order to avoid a sovereign debt crisis in 2024.

On 5 August 2021, Mboweni resigned as finance minister. He was succeeded in the post by Enoch Godongwana.

Joining the private sector

On 31 January 2022, Mboweni resigned as an ANC Member of the National Assembly to take up a position in the private sector. He has been appointed as chairman and independent non-executive director of Accelerate, a property fund company.

Other activities

• World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2018–2021)
• Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (2018–2021)
• Asia School of Business, Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015)

Recognition

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

Controversy

In August 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa “strongly reprimanded” Mboweni over comments he made on Twitter about the dismissal of Zambia’s central bank governor Denny Kalyalya. In a statement, the presidency explained that “in one of his tweets, Minister Mboweni is promising to mobilise if not given reasons why the Central (bank) Governor has been fired,” citing the need for central bank independence.

 

Events Participated in

Event	Start	End	Location(s)	Description
WEF/Annual Meeting/2004	21 January 2004	25 January 2004	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2068 billionaires, CEOs and their politicians and "civil society" leaders met under the slogan Partnering for Prosperity and Security. "We have the people who matter," said World Economic Forum Co-Chief Executive Officer José María Figueres.
WEF/Annual Meeting/2007	24 January 2007	28 January 2007	Switzerland	Only the 449 public figures listed of ~2200 participants
WEF/Annual Meeting/2008	23 January 2008	27 January 2008	World Economic Forum Switzerland	At the 2008 summit, Klaus Schwab called for a coordinated approach, where different 'stakeholders' collaborate across geographical, industrial, political and cultural boundaries."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2009	23 January 2009	27 January 2009	World Economic Forum Switzerland	Chairman Klaus Schwab outlined five objectives driving the Forum’s efforts to shape the global agenda, including letting the banks that caused the 2008 economic crisis keep writing the rules, the climate change agenda, over-national government structures, taking control over businesses with the stakeholder agenda, and a "new charter for the global economic order".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2011	26 January 2011	30 January 2011	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2229 guests in Davos, with the theme: "Shared Norms for the New Reality".
WEF/Annual Meeting/2012	25 January 2012	29 January 2012	Switzerland	2113 guests in Davos
WEF/Annual Meeting/2013	23 January 2013	27 January 2013	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2500 mostly unelected leaders met to discuss "leading through adversity"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2014	22 January 2014	25 January 2014	World Economic Forum Switzerland	2604 guests in Davos considered "Reshaping The World"
WEF/Annual Meeting/2019	22 January 2019	25 January 2019	World Economic Forum Switzerland	"The reality is that we are in a Cold War [against China] that threatens to turn into a hot one."
WEF/Annual Meeting/2020	21 January 2020	24 January 2020	World Economic Forum Switzerland	This mega-summit of the world's ruling class and their political and media appendages happens every year, but 2020 was special, as the continuous corporate media coverage of COVID-19 started more or less from one day to the next on 20/21 January 2020, coinciding with the start of the meeting.

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References

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