I'm not stepping down: Mboweni
Michael Appel
4 September 2008
South African Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni will complete his current term of office, and stay on after August 2009 if the country's next elected government asks him to.
Briefing journalists in Pretoria on Tuesday following news reports that gave the impression that he would be stepping down as governor, Mboweni said: "I have been Governor of the Bank since August 1999 and I will complete my current term in August 2009.
"If asked to serve [after August 2009], I will."
Mboweni said the governor of the country's central bank was appointed by the President after consultation with minister of finance and the bank's board of directors, in accordance with the South African Reserve Bank Act.
"The South African Reserve Bank Act section 5(1) stipulates that the governor shall hold office for a period of five years," Mboweni said. "The Act is silent regarding the number of terms that a governor may serve."
Mboweni noted that the European Union's central bank has a fixed term for its governor, while the governor of the Netherlands central bank can stay there indefinitely, as long as he is of sound mind.
"It [would] depend on whether a person was in a position to fulfil what is required or not," he said, responding to a question on how many terms were needed to fulfil his mandate.
Mboweni said that despite criticism, governing the bank was a job that needed to be done. "Governors are not in the business of popularity contests; they are there to protect the poor from high inflation," he said, adding that it was still a huge challenge.
He remained tight-lipped on a possible successor if he was not asked to stay on under a new government.
Mboweni, who was minister of labour from May 1994 to July 1998, spent a year as adviser to former governor Chris Stals before formally assuming the position on 20 July 1999.
Source: BuaNews
