Stanley Letsoalo
The passing of Comrade Tito Mboweni, at the youthful age of 65, is not only sad and shocking in its suddenness; it has robbed South Africa of a consummate business and political leader and the ANC of a seasoned stalwart and brains at a critical time in its history, as it seeks to regain its footing as a leader of society following the loss of an electoral majority.
His contribution to South African public life is well-documented and correctly celebrated. As the minister of labour, he helped put in place a comprehensive, progressive human rights-based labour relations framework that sought to protect worker rights given South Africa’s historical, tense relationship between business and labour.
As a two-term Reserve Bank governor, which he joined as advisor in 1998 and then a governor in 1999, he entrenched the credibility of the South African Reserve Bank as an inflation-targeting central bank, among a few but growing number worldwide at the turn of the century. This role put him at odds, ironically with labour but also with the left wing of the Tripartite Alliance.
Lastly, as finance minister, he found himself faced with the task of steering South Africa’s economy through the Covid-19 pandemic, by putting in place the R500 billion stimulus package and the June 2020 budget.
What may be less known is his role inside the ANC, where he was very active and contributed immensely, especially during his time outside of government.
He took no umbrage at being challenged by us young Turks and instead took it upon himself and some of his peer leaders to instil economic, political, and policy education.
He did groundwork campaigning work with our branch for both the 2019 national election and the 2021 local government election. For this year’s election, he performed his campaigning work in Magoebaskloof, Limpopo.
I have been a leader at the Houghton Branch of the ANC since my days in the Youth League in 2008, where I was branch secretary, the chair, and later led the zone.
I have been part of the main branch leadership since the run-up to the Nasrec Conference in 2017 and currently serve as branch secretary. I first had a close encounter with Comrade Tito in 2012, when as a branch leadership collective, we sought to lobby him to contest the deputy presidency of the ANC under Comrade Kgalema Motlanthe, which former president Jacob Zuma had invited President Cyril Ramaphosa as his deputy, in a ticket which prevailed in Mangaung.
Five years later, in 2017, we lobbied Mboweni to be part of the ANC NEC to ensure that he is part of Ramaphosa’s collective following his election at Nasrec. The move brought Mboweni firmly back into the political space and allowed President Ramaphosa to appoint him as finance minister in 2018.
Mboweni helped build the ANC in various capacities since its unbanning and assumption of power. He was deputy head of the Department of Economic Development in the ANC before being appointed minister of labour in 1995.
He was also an ANC representative on domestic and international platforms. He served as a member of not only the National Executive Committee but also its National Working Committee and chair of the Economic Transformation Committee.
In 1997, he became the ANC’s head of policy. He resigned all his political positions when he joined the South African Reserve Bank.
In 2013, I took part in a dialogue organised by the South Africa Union of Students (SAUS) at the University of Johannesburg. The gathering was addressed by former finance minister, Comrade Trevor Manuel, and following a robust engagement with students, he and Mboweni agreed to avail themselves of engagement to teach members about South Africa’s economic history.
On most Sunday mornings, Mboweni would make time at a private hotel and through branch structures and would avail himself on Thursday evenings for political education sessions called Umrabulo. He was generous with his time and insights to the very end.
Mboweni was driven throughout his life, by a sense of social justice. It is why he joined the ANC to become part of the liberation Struggle and his accomplishments in democratic SA attest to this.
The labour regime he helped put in place advances those goals to this day through institutions such as the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA).
Even the pursuit of inflation targeting was for him about advancing social justice. Keeping inflation low protects the buying power of workers, low-income earners, and grant recipients. Those opposed to the policy tend to attack the tool of high interest rates used to achieve that goal.
Those who benefit from the Social Relief Distress Grant, put in place during Covid, have him to thank in part for that cushion, although his abiding belief is that the government should create jobs, including through ownership of industries, to have fewer people dependent on grants.
Mboweni also authored the policy reform paper that underpins the work of Operation Vulindlela, the government reform programme that is driving current positive performance.
His outward exhibition of a simple lifestyle in choice of clothing was shaped by his rural upbringing and lifestyle, but those who interacted with him, especially during his time as governor of the Reserve Bank will attest to his fine taste in clothes, food, wine and cigars. He was comfortable with it and did not feel the need to be defined by it.
My very last conversation with him was about meeting upon his return from a recent trip from Ghana. Unfortunately, it was not to be.
Following his passing, his stature on the continent was acknowledged by among others, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who noted his role as chairman of the Peace Fund while his global role can be traced through the many boards he served on, including as an advisor to Goldman Sachs, a role he assumed in 2010.
His family unknowingly gave him to the ANC, including through his time in exile. Once South Africa attained political liberation, the ANC gave him to South Africa, the rest of Africa, and the world.
It has been a privilege to learn from and serve with Comrade Mboweni.
He will be laid to rest in Tzaneen, where he was born on March 16, 1959.
Rest Well Comrade Tito Mboweni.
Letsoalo is the ANC Branch Secretary in Houghton and former Gauteng ANC Youth League co-ordinator.
The Star