(Bloomberg) — Tito Mboweni, who served as the first Black governor of South Africa’s central bank and later as finance minister, and was hailed for keeping inflation and public spending in check, has died. He was 65.
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The former governor died after a “short illness,” the South African Presidency said late Saturday. He passed away at a hospital in Johannesburg surrounded by his loved ones, Mboweni’s family said in a statement.
Mboweni served as labor minister in the cabinet appointed by President Nelson Mandela after apartheid ended in 1994. He was named central bank governor in 1999, a position he held for a decade, and was finance minister from October 2018 to August 2021.
“We have lost a leader and compatriot who has served our nation as an activist, economic policy innovator and champion of labor rights,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said. “As governor and finance minister, he had a sharp focus on fiscal discipline and economic transformation.”
Mboweni was born on March 16, 1959, in the northern South African town of Tzaneen. He went into exile during apartheid and trained as an economist.
He obtained a BA in economics and political science from the National University of Lesotho in 1985, according to the central bank. In 1987, he then obtained an MA in development economics from the University of East Anglia in England.
Mboweni served for four years as labor minister. During that time he oversaw the implementation of a raft of new laws to protect worker rights.
As central bank governor, Mboweni fought to protect the institution’s independence in the face of criticism about the impact of the strong rand on the competitiveness of South Africa’s exports.
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Mboweni established a reputation for being conservative on monetary policy. He was a fierce defender of inflation targeting that was introduced the year after he took office and which drew opprobrium from labor unions.
Mboweni was instrumental in maintaining price stability in a “fragile post-apartheid economy,” according to the African National Congress, the political party that ruled South Africa outright from 1994 until it lost its parliamentary majority in this year’s elections. He was a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, its highest decision-making body.
Among his other achievements at the central bank was his rebuilding of South Africa’s foreign-exchange reserves to almost $40 billion from less than $10 billion.
“He was a passionate central banker and played a key role in building the SARB into the professional, formidable and purposeful organization it is today,” the central bank said on Sunday.
After his time at the bank, Mboweni joined the private sector as an adviser in South Africa for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. He also served as chairman of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., formerly the world’s biggest gold producer, and sat on the boards of other companies.
Mboweni was appointed finance minister during Ramaphosa’s first term, when the president pledged to combat corruption and rebuild investor confidence eroded by nine scandal-marred years of rule under his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.
“His contributions in this space helped steer South Africa through economic turbulence and he was widely respected for this, both locally and internationally,” the ANC said. “Though his term was brief, he guided the country’s economic policy during a critical period of transition following the departure of his predecessor.”
Mboweni’s family said it would release further details about his passing in the coming days.
–With assistance from S’thembile Cele.
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