Tito Titus Mboweni

Tito Titus Mboweni was born in Tzaneen, Transvaal (modern Limpopo). Going into political exile in 1980, he joined the ANC in Lesotho and earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the National University of Lesotho and a master's degree from the University of East Anglia in England, returning in 1990 to head the ANC's Department of Economic Planning.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela appointed 35-year-old Mboweni as Minister of Labour in the first democratic cabinet, where he drafted the post-apartheid Labour Relations Act and Basic Conditions of Employment Act. In 1999, he was appointed Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), making history as its first Black governor. Over a ten-year tenure, Mboweni built up foreign exchange reserves, introduced inflation targeting, and safeguarded South Africa's financial stability through the 2008 global financial crisis. In 2018, President Cyril Ramaphosa recalled him to serve as Minister of Finance, guiding the national economy through the COVID-19 pandemic.