Tito Mboweni
Tito Mboweni | |
---|---|
Minister of Labour | |
In office 1994–1999 | |
President | Nelson Mandela |
Personal details | |
Born | Tito Titus Mboweni[1] 16 March 1959 Tzaneen, Limpopo, South Africa |
Children | 3 |
Alma mater | National University of Lesotho University of East Anglia |
Tito Titus Mboweni[1] (born 16 March 1959) 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.
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]
Mboweni is a founding member of Mboweni Brothers Investment Holdings and a former 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.
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
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
During his tenure, Mboweni was appointed honorary Professor of Economics at the
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, 2018–2021
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]
In June 2020, Mboweni proposed a new
On 5 August 2021, Mboweni resigned as finance minister. He was succeeded in the post by Enoch Godongwana.[14]
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.[15][16]
Other activities
- World Bank, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (2018–2021)[17]
- Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee, Member (2018–2021)[18]
- Asia School of Business, Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015)[19]
Recognition
- 2015 – Honorary professor, School of Economic and Business Sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand[20]
- 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.[21]
In popular culture
In 2017 he was the subject of a song by South African rapper Cassper Nyovest in which Tito Mboweni's name is included 75 times in the 4 minute song, with his name invoked to refer to the creation and ownership of money as his signature is included on the Rand note.[22]
References
- ^ a b "Executive Profile – Tito Titus Mboweni BA, MA". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.
- ^ Menon, Sunita (9 October 2018). "Business lauds Tito Mboweni as a 'credible' finance minister". Business Day. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ^ a b "Meet Tito Mboweni, the new Finance Minister of SA". IOL. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
- ^ Businessweek. Archived from the originalon 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- ^ "Tito Mboweni | Who's Who SA". Whoswho.co.za. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- ^ a b c Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo (October 10, 2018), Ex-central banker Mboweni takes on South Africa's hobbling economy Reuters.
- ^ "Tito Mboweni joins Goldman Sachs". Mail & Guardian. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
- ^ "NEWS JUST IN: Nhanhla Nene resigns from his post as Finance Minister". IOL. 9 October 2018. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
- ^ Mkhwananzi, Siyabonga (1 September 2019). "Tito Mboweni under fire over economic growth plan". IOL. Retrieved 27 May 2021 – via Google Cache.
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- ^ Omarjee, Lameez (2 September 2019). "'Chaotic, incoherent': Telkom CEO slams Mboweni's growth plan". News24.
- ^ "The State of Fintech and SMEs in South Africa – 2019". Bridgement. 4 September 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
- ^ Majozi, Phumlani (4 October 2019). "OPINION: Mboweni is the only rational minister in Ramaphosa's lousy government". Finance 24.
- ^ Magubane, Khulekani (18 June 2020). "'The situation has radically changed': Mboweni's grim warning ahead of supplementary budget". News24.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
- ^ Staff Writer (5 August 2021). "Enoch Godongwana is SA's new minister of finance as Mboweni resigns". fin24.
- ^ "Former minister Tito Mboweni resigns as MP | eNCA". www.enca.com. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ "Tito Mboweni retires from public office, joins property company Accelerate as chair". BusinessLIVE. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
- ^ Board of Governors World Bank.
- ^ 2019 Members Joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee.
- ^ Board of Governors: Tito Titus Mboweni Asia School of Business.
- ^ "Tito Mboweni to join Wits University". sowetanlive. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
- ^ Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo (August 24, 2020), South Africa's Ramaphosa reprimands finance minister over tweets on Zambia Reuters.
- ^ "Here's Everything That's Wrong With The 'Tito Mboweni' Music Video". HuffPost UK. 30 March 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
External links
- Tito Mboweni biography, at African National Congress site, retrieved 2008-08-20