President Cyril Ramaphosa has re-appointed Mr Lesetja Kganyago as the South African Reserve Bank Governor. President Ramaphosa made the decision after consulting with Finance Minister, Mr Tito Mboweni, and the board of directors of the bank. Mr Kganyago’s current term expires on 8 November 2019, and his new five-year term will be effective immediately after that.
The President also appointed Ms Fundi Tshazibana and Dr Rashad Cassim as Deputy Governors of the Reserve Bank, the Presidency announced on Wednesday.
“President Ramaphosa appointed the Deputy Governors in terms of Section 4(1)(a), read with Section 5(1)(a), of the South African Reserve Bank Act (Act 90 of 1989),” said the Presidency.
The Deputy Governors’ appointments address two vacancies that had arisen as a result of the resignation in January 2019 of Deputy Governor Francois Groepe and the expiry of Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele’s term at the end of June 2019.
The incoming deputies will assume their five-year terms on 1 August 2019.
Incoming Deputy Governor Tshazibana is currently an advisor to the Governor and Deputy Governors of the Bank. Tshazibana holds a Master of Commerce (Economics). She has worked in various institutions including Research Surveys (Research Executive), the National Electricity Regulator (Policy Analyst and Senior Policy Analyst), National Treasury (Deputy Director-General: Macroeconomic Policy), and the International Monetary Fund (Alternative Executive Director: Africa Group 1 Constituency).
Cassim is currently Head of Economic Research and Statistics at the Reserve Bank. He holds a PhD (Economics).
He has worked at various institutions including the University of Cape Town (Lecturer, Researcher and Director of Trade Policy Monitoring Policy Project); Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) (Executive Director); the University of the Witwatersrand (Professor and Head of School of Economics and Business Sciences), and Statistics South Africa (Deputy Director-General: Economic Statistics).
“President Ramaphosa has wished the Governor and Deputy Governors well on their forthcoming terms and said these appointments were directed at strengthening capacity and maintaining stability at this critical national institution,” said the Presidency.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said he is looking forward to working with the new Deputy Governors.
“We congratulate the appointees and look forward to working with them. We need not remind them of the tough economic and fiscal circumstances facing South Africa at the current moment. They have my full support and confidence that they will take South Africa forward as we move to bring development to our people,” said the Minister.