Following his passing, Mboweni will likely most want to be remembered as SARB governor

CAPE TOWN - As South Africa wakes up to the news of the death of former Minister of Finance Tito Mboweni, it’s likely to be his role as South African Reserve Bank (SARB) governor that he will most want to be remembered for.

His family announced his surprising death after a short illness in a Johannesburg hospital on Saturday night, at the age of 65.

He’s the country’s second finance minister to die in the past month, following the death of Pravin Gordhan.

A reluctant finance minister, Mboweni stepped into the breach in October 2018, just weeks before he was expected to deliver his first Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement.

He fashioned himself as a minister of austerity and budget cuts, one who would reduce the country’s burgeoning debt after years of state capture and bailouts to struggling parastatals.

But it was his role as the country’s eighth SARB governor that was undoubtedly the one that he cherished most, often reminding journalists of its eminence.

“I was trying to explain to some of the colleagues calling me minister, minister – I said you know there are levels. So, there’s the governor, and then there’s the minister. So, together with governor Kganyago, he’s the tenth governor of the Reserve Bank, I’m the eighth governor. So, you are welcome to call me governor, it’s fine.”

Just three years later, Mboweni threw in the towel on government in 2021, retiring to his Limpopo farm where he fashioned himself as the Duke of the Duchy of Magoebaskloof.

Here, he became a Twitter, now X, sensation for his often crudely made chicken dinners, an unwitting salesman for Lucky Star pilchards, and an unashamed tourism ambassador for the province he loved.