Remembering Tito Mboweni: A Legacy of Politics, Economics, and Tough Love

Tributes are continuing to pour in for Tito Mboweni, a former political activist here in South Africa who made a significant contribution to the country's politics as well as economics. And in essence, Africa has just lost its only Duke as a result. Tito Titus Mboweni, the self-styled Duke of Magoebaskloof passed on at the weekend, aged 65. He leaves a rich legacy. He was the architect of South Africa’s Labour reforms which have been blamed for the country’s inability to attract meaningful foreign and local investment. But at the central bank, he will be remembered for introducing South Africa’s widely respected monetary policy regime, transforming national payments system and taking South Africa’s monetary policy to the provinces through the monetary policy forums. Let's take a look at his life. He was a man of many talents, and the jury is out as to whether cooking was one of them. But Tito Titus Mboweni was the kind of man that could be found in the kitchen, and he enjoyed every bit of it. The youngest of three children, Mboweni was born and raised in Zanin, a small town in South Africa’s Limpopo province. He initially signed up to the University of the North in 1979, but left the country the following year to go into exile in Lesotho. It is here where the young Mboweni would cross paths with the African National Congress and join the country’s anti’apartheid organisation as an activist. It was also in Lesotho where he would attain his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Politics and Science, and later a Master of Arts in Development Economics from the University of East Anglia in England. Mboweni returned from England in the early 90s at the dawn of South Africa’s democracy. He was appointed the country’s first black Labour minister in 1994, serving a five-year term in the cabinet of founding president Nelson Mandela. It was during this tenure that Labour reforms that have been largely blamed for stifling job creation in Africa’s largest economy were introduced. In 2000, Mboweni also made political history, this time as South Africa’s first black central bank governor, serving two terms under presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma. During this period, South Africa enjoyed some of its best post’apartheid growth rates, peaking at 6%. The country was also rated investment grade by the three major ratings agencies. But critics of this period say while the economy grew, it didn’t grow for all as unemployment remained stubbornly high. Towards the end of his second term as governor of South Africa’s central bank, Mboweni would face one of the worst financial meltdowns to hit the global economy. On the 15th of September, when it was announced that Lehman Brothers had collapsed, it became clear that the world had changed, totally changed. It's a crisis that roiled financial markets, with $10 trillion wiped off global exchanges months after the Lehman Brothers collapse. However, South African banks were less impacted than their global peers, partly due to Mboweni's monetary policy management, which was less experimental and colourful than his cooking. My basic approach was a basic Zanini approach. If I don't understand something, I cannot give approval for it. Thank God I didn't understand the damn thing. And so growing up in Zanini helps, because you're kind of slower in understanding these complex issues. But it saved the situation. Mboweni handed over the Saab governorship to Jill Marcus in 2009 to take up farming. But his retirement was short-lived, as President Jamaposa would recall him back to public office, this time as Finance Minister. The investment-grade economy Mboweni left when he became a pensioner was now rated junk, under mass looting and corruption that took place for almost a decade under the Zuma administration. Mboweni's approach to reviving South Africa's economy and restoring investor confidence was one of tough love. Under his term, the fiscal purse tightened, irregular expenditure was cut, and bailouts for troubled state-owned entities were curtailed, including famously demanding senior public officials fly economy class. Mboweni retired from active politics in 2019, choosing to return to his life as a happy pensioner and farmer in Machubuskloof. He maintained an active profile in the private sector, sitting on the boards of Accelerate Property Fund and the African Centre for Economic Transformation, where he was chair. Investment bank Goldman Sachs also hired Mboweni as their regional advisor. This would be the last supper Mboweni would post on his on September 23. While history will remember him for his contribution to democracy and economic legacy, South Africans will remember the Duke of Machubuskloof as their flamboyant coke.

Africa has just lost its only Duke. Tito Titus Mboweni, the self-styled Duke of Magoebaskloof passed on at the weekend, aged 65. He leaves a rich legacy: he was the architect of South Africa’s Labour reforms which have been blamed for the country’s inability to attract meaningful foreign and local investment. But at the central bank, he will be remembered for introducing South Africa’s widely respected monetary policy regime, transforming national payments system and taking South Africa monetary policy to the provinces through the monetary policy forums. 

Tito Mboweni passes on

Africa has just lost its only Duke. Tito Titus Mboweni, the self-styled Duke of Magoebaskloof passed on at the weekend, aged 65. 

Tito Mboweni passes on

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