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Finance Minister Tito Mboweni delivers the highly anticipated Speech on the 2020 budget and related bills at the National Assembly, Cape Town. Image: Elmond Jiyane / GCIS
- President Cyril Ramaphosa was looking for a backup option for the finance minister in the event Tito Mboweni resigned, but he abandoned that search because he could not find a suitable alternative.
- The two most favored candidates were the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Lesetja Kganyago, and the former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mcebisi Jonas.
- Replacing Mboweni with a less respected capital markets official would be a risk for Ramaphosa as the economy struggles to recover from what is estimated to be its worst annual contraction in nine decades.
President Cyril Ramaphosa sought to identify a backup option should Finance Minister Tito Mboweni step down, but abandoned the search because he could not find a suitable alternative, according to four people familiar with the situation.
While some of the country’s most prominent politicians and business executives were informally surveyed as potential replacements in recent months, the two most favored candidates, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago, and former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas , they did not want the position. People asked not to be identified because the process was private and high-ranking members of the ruling party were not informed.
Ramaphosa’s first option has always been to retain Mboweni, a 61-year-old former central bank governor, the people said. Still, the finance chief has frequently expressed his reluctance to stay in office for long both in public and private, citing the need for younger politicians to take office. He has also expressed frustration with the job on Twitter, raising concerns about his intention to resign.
While he was praised by investors for advocating the privatization or closure of bankrupt state-owned companies and austere policies, including freezing wages for government workers, he faced off against Ramaphosa’s union allies and other high-ranking ministers and politicians. of the ruling party. His practice of working frequently from his home in Magoebaskloof, 277 km north of the government headquarters in Pretoria, has been taken by some commentators as evidence of his dissatisfaction with the job.
Ramaphosa last week denied speculation that Mboweni might leave, and coverage of his comments was retweeted by Mboweni. While Financial Mail magazine last week quoted unidentified people as saying they had approached Kganyago for work, Ramaphosa said his discussions with the governor had been limited to monetary policy.
“I don’t know anything about a replacement for the finance minister,” Ramaphosa said in an online briefing on Friday. “This is news to me. There is no such plan, there is no such intention and there has been no such discussion.”
Ramaphosa reappointed Kganyago to his post in 2019, and he intends to serve his second five-year term, the central bank said in an emailed response to questions. Jonas did not respond to a request for comment. The Treasury declined to comment and referred Bloomberg to Ramaphosa’s comments. The presidency declined to comment further.
Replacing Mboweni with a less respected capital markets official would be a risk for Ramaphosa as the economy struggles to recover from what is estimated to be its worst annual contraction in nine decades and the government’s debt burden rises. In addition to serving as the governor of the country’s central bank for a decade, Mboweni has been chairman of AngloGold Ashanti and acted as an advisor to Goldman Sachs.
Possible replacements
Other possible replacements that have been considered by people close to Ramaphosa include Zweli Mkhize, the health minister, and Renosi Mokate, a former deputy governor of the central bank and current president of the Government Employees Pension Fund, according to the people. It was unclear if they had been contacted and none of their offices responded to requests for comment.
Suitable candidates can be put off by the relatively low compensation paid to government ministers. Both Kganyago and Jonas, who is president of MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile phone company by subscribers, would suffer a pay cut if they took office.
Replacing Mboweni could also lead to further riots within the ruling ANC, which remains divided between pro and anti-Ramaphosa factions, and any new appointment to the crucial post is likely to be highly controversial.
Mboweni retains the full support of top ANC leaders, according to Paul Mashatile, the party’s general treasurer.
“He has not indicated that he no longer wants to be finance minister and no one has tried to have him removed from that position,” Mashatile said in an interview.
-With the help of S’thembile Cele, Paul Vecchiatto and Prinesha Naidoo.
