JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Tito Mboweni, South Africa’s former finance and labor minister and the first black central bank governor, has died at the age of 65 after a short illness, the president’s office said late on Saturday.
Mboweni was an anti-apartheid activist since his student days and later served as democratic South Africa’s first minister of labor from 1994 to 1999 under former president Nelson Mandela.
He then served as Governor of the South African Reserve Bank for 10 years from 1999 and then Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021 under President Cyril Ramaphosa.
“His role in shaping the future of our democracy, especially in the dying days of apartheid, cannot be overstated,” his party, the African National Congress, said in a statement. said he is a trusted voice in the economic debates that frame the transition to .
According to the ANC, Mr Mboweni helped develop post-apartheid labor laws that laid the foundations for collective bargaining and labor courts to protect workers’ rights.
As central bank governor, he oversaw the introduction of inflation targeting to help the central bank achieve price stability.
He was a close ally of Ramaphosa and served on the ANC’s national executive committee, which handles party decisions.
“Dr Mboweni’s passing at the age of 65 is a shock, given his vitality and his energetic and benevolent engagement with his fellow South Africans,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
“We have lost a leader and compatriot who served our country as an activist, economic policy innovator, and defender of workers’ rights.”
(Reporting by Nellie Peyton; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
