In remembrance of Tito Titus Mboweni, who passed away after a brief illness, BizNews editor Alec Hogg’s tribute reflects on his significant impact as an ANC member and later as South Africa’s Minister of Labour and Reserve Bank governor. Hogg shares personal anecdotes from his early encounters at the World Economic Forum, highlighting Tito’s transformation from a controversial figure to a respected leader. His legacy of economic pragmatism and friendship will be cherished by many. Farewell, Tito.
Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.
By Alec Hogg ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
I have an aversion to self-indulgent obituaries, where writers share so much of their personal experiences that the subject risks becoming a bit player. However, in the case of the late Tito Titus Mboweni, who passed away over the weekend after a short illness, I beg your indulgence.
Tito was one of the first ANC members I knew well. We met in Davos in January 1993, a year after the historic Mandela/De Klerk/Buthelezi meeting at the World Economic Forum. South Africa was in the global spotlight, and as the economics editor at the national broadcaster, the WEF sent me an invitation.
At that fascinating event, where I met the still low-profile but rapidly emerging ANC personalities, I spent quite a bit of quality time with Tito. He and Trevor Manuel were members of the Max Sisulu-headed ANC Economic Policy Unit. We hit it off so well that he agreed to co-host a live crossing back to SA.
When we got home, Tito was always ready to share his insights on air – including during one memorable broadcast of my late-night show, where the audience would fax in questions (not a joke…). During that broadcast, he stated once the ANC came to power, it would nationalise many ‘strategic’ organisations, including Iscor (now ArcelorMittal). The other in-studio guest, the late editor of Sake Beeld, Flip Meyer, was horrified. The market, not so much. Iscor’s share price never moved.
After the 1994 election, Tito, then 35, was Mandela’s surprise appointment as Minister of Labour in the first cabinet. He continued breathing socialist fire, but we remained on friendly terms despite apparent disagreements.
That changed in 1998 with the even greater surprise of his appointment to succeed Dr. Chris Stals as governor of the SA Reserve Bank. For reasons best known to my younger self, I very publicly repeated widely-held opinions that a tanking of the Rand and a consequent rise in interest rates directly resulted from Mboweni’s appointment.
Tito wasn’t amused. As a direct result, for some years he shunned my publication’s our entire team, once even making quite a show of turning his back on one of my colleagues, loudly announcing to all: “Moneyweb – you’re blacklisted….”
On the odd occasion when we happened to be in the same room, he refused to engage. As for my nationally broadcast nightly radio show, despite the best efforts of our executive producers, to the governor and his team it was as though we never existed.
Time showed I was wrong to assume and repeat that Mboweni’s appointment would realize the market’s worst fears. In fact, the opposite was true.
He proved to be more than up to the challenging job, performing brilliantly and earning well-deserved plaudits from all over the world. Tito was a model governor, rejecting populist pressures and providing perfect support on the monetary side of the disciplined fiscal policy that laid the foundation for an extended period of economic growth.
It took some years for the ice between us to thaw. Eventually, he agreed to meet with me in his office at the SARB building. I apologised. He accepted it and then showed me a desk with his desktop computer logged into my online publication. It was a perfect example of one man’s generosity of spirit, freely given to someone who had badly pre-judged him. It provided one of those great life lessons.
Thereafter, we engaged on the odd occasion, but my highlight was always when we were together in January at the Swiss town where we first met. Being abroad has a way of uniting South Africans, removing barriers all too present at home.
This brings me to the second part of my Tito story.
Late one evening at one of those famous Davos events, Tito told me about the South African miracle (as it was then, pre-Zuma) and how the ANC had opted for a free enterprise future rather than the ruinous alternative so widely predicted.
He explained how, in 1992, when Nelson Mandela attended the WEF for the first time, South Africa’s president-in-waiting had his ear bent by the good and the great of the world. The narrative that emerged was that these influential figures – and the fall of the Berlin Wall – had changed Madiba’s mind about transforming South Africa into the kind of socialist state long propagated by the ANC’s partners in Moscow.
As Tito put it, Mandela was unmoved by corporate captains and Western leaders. His ideological transformation came during a meeting with one of his heroes, legendary Viet Cong military general Võ Văn Kiệt, who was also attending Davos as the recently appointed Prime Minister of Vietnam.
It was Kiệt who convinced Madiba that the implementation of cherished ideas that had driven them to sacrifice so much had only caused poverty and pain.
Võ Văn Kiệt was to Vietnam what Deng Xiaoping was to China. A hard-boiled communist who transformed into an economic pragmatist, he was the driving force behind Vietnam’s reforms introduced in 1986. These reforms focused on liberalizing the economy, moving away from central planning, and embracing a market economy. They were so successful that he is remembered in his country as the Great Reformer.
Tito was there when that fateful engagement happened. Knowing his penchant for expressing an opinion, he probably helped encourage Mandela to repeat his hero’s experience. That matters not. What does matter is the legacy Tito Titus Mboweni leaves a grateful nation. Those who knew the man will miss him. But they will never forget him. Farewell, Tito. On behalf of all whose paths crossed yours, it was our privilege.
Read also:
- 🔒 FT: Portugal seeks to become low-tax haven for young people
- Marika Sboros: Mandla Mandela and the anti-Israel lobby
- The DA is right to play hardball in Tshwane: John Endres
