The first black governor of South Africa’s central bank, who later became minister of finance, has died at the age of 65.
Tito Mboweni was ‘shortly ill’, the presidency confirmed on Saturday evening, without further details.
“We have lost a leader and compatriot who served our nation as an activist, economic policy innovator and champion of labor rights,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
Mbwoeni’s family said they were “devastated” and that he had died in a Johannesburg hospital “surrounded by his loved ones”.
A former anti-apartheid activist, Mboweni spent almost a decade in exile in Lesotho, where he attended university.
That was followed by a master’s degree from the University of East Anglia in Great Britain.
“I guess you can call me a child in exile, an international child born in South Africa,” he said later.
“But my home is in South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique, the UK, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Swaziland, the US, Switzerland and everywhere else I spent my childhood. I hate narrow-minded nationalism – I can’t stand it. I hate xenophobia.”
He returned to South Africa in 1990 and subsequently served as the country’s first Minister of Labor under President Nelson Mandela, where he played a key role in shaping post-apartheid labor law.
These laid the foundation for collective bargaining agreements and labor courts to protect workers’ rights.
He gained a reputation for being principled and willing to debate issues openly.
Mboweni’s penchant for wearing battered old clothes and shoes only added to his serious public profile.
During his ten years as governor of the Reserve Bank, Mboweni won praise for his achievements. At one point he was named central bank governor of the year by the financial magazine Euromoney – which wrote that “his greatest success was bringing inflation under control” .
This was followed by a period in the private sector, including as an international advisor to the global investment bank Goldman Sachs.
More recently, as finance minister in President Ramaphosa’s government between 2018 and 2021, Mboweni was credited with stabilizing the economy.
He took over that post despite suggesting months earlier that he was too long in the tooth and that it might be time for new blood.
“Against the wisdom of my team, please don’t tell them this. It’s between us, I’m not available to the Minister of Finance. You can’t recycle the same people again. It’s time for young people. We are available for advisory roles , no cabinet. We did that,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
In his later years, he charmed South Africans with his laid-back lifestyle and humorous cooking posts, sharing recipes and interacting with followers on social media.
One follower commented after hearing of Mboweni’s death: “He left behind shoes too big to fill.”
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