Tito Mboweni needs to explain his flirtation with “radical economic transformation” in SA

10 October 2018

The appointment of the new Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, has been widely welcomed as “market friendly” in South Africa.

However, the minister has been in “political exile” for nearly a decade and his views on the economy may not be as “market friendly” as was first assumed.

For example, on 27 April 2018 the minister posted two Tweets as follows:

Tweet 1

Tweet 2

What is not clear is whether this was a flirtation with “radical economic transformation”, or a conversion to “radical economic transformation”.

We now need to know whether the minister actually supports extending state-ownership in the mining sector, establishing a state-owned bank and creating a Sovereign Wealth Fund, which may have major implications for investment and job creation in South Africa.

We, therefore, call on the minister to explain his views or face a grilling on them at his first appearance before the finance committee following the medium-term budget policy statement in Parliament.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 10 October 2018