The nomination of an ANC leader as successor to the present Governor of the Reserve Bank failed to stem the fall in the South African rand yesterday, apparently because the appointment was seen as a threat to the bank's independence.
By yesterday afternoon the rand had depreciated sharply in trading against the US dollar and the British pound. The exchange rate was R6.45 to the dollar (against Friday's close at R5.9) and R10.9 to the pound (against R9.8 at close on Friday).
Deputy President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, announced at the weekend that Labour Minister Mr Tito Mboweni would succeed Mr Chris Stals as governor of the bank in August next year.
The appointment was seen by observers as an attempt to end uncertainty over who would succeed Mr Stals, a seasoned banker, whose contract expires in August 1999. Reports that Mr Stals would resign before his contract ended sent the rand plummeting last week. It steadied after Mr Mbeki issued a statement emphasising Mr Stals would remain until his contract expired.
In his later weekend statement announcing that Mr Mboweni would take over from Mr Stals next year, Mr Mbeki stressed that Mr Mboweni (39) would serve under Mr Stals for a year before assuming responsibility as governor.
Anticipating the choice of Mr Mboweni would be seen as a political appointment calculated to undermine the independence of the Reserve Bank, Mr Mbeki gave President Nelson Mandela's assurance that the ANC-led government respected the bank's independence and would ensure the constitutional provisions governing the bank's operations would be honoured.
But the respected economist, Mr Azar Jamine, warned the appointment of Mr Mboweni would be seen as an attempt to "circumvent" constitutional provisions undermining the bank's independence. Mr Jamine did not make the point specifically but the ANC and its South African Communist Party ally have sporadically attacked the bank as an obstacle to the transformation of South Africa after the long years of white minority rule.
Mr Mboweni took a slightly different line in a bid to counter assumptions he would act as an ANC's pointsman in the bank: he would resign all his political positions and would, in any case, only be one man in an institution where policy was formulated in concert with the deputy governors and the bank's board.
