The man who cut load shedding by 6 stages in South Africa

Tito Mboweni has been an influential figure in the public and private sphere, and without him, load shedding would have been much worse.

Mboweni passed away on 12 October 2024 at the age of 65 following a short illness.

His death led to a flurry of tributes from political and private leaders, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, Discovery CEO Adrian Gore, and even political foes, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF).

Mboweni was the first Labour Minister in democratic South Africa and pushed through several pieces of legislation, including the Basic Conditions of Employment Act and the Labour Relations Act.

In 1999, he was appointed the Eighth Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), and under his leadership, inflation-targeting measures were introduced.

One of Mboweni’s most significant achievements at the SARB was building up the nation’s foreign exchange reserves to almost $40 billion from less than $10 billion.

Following a stint in the private sector, Mboweni was appointed as Minister of Finance by President Cyril Ramaphosa in October 2018.

The Bureau for Economic Research (BER) said that Mboweni made three massive decisions in South Africa’s economic policy trajectory.

Despite being hailed as a champion of labour, his first significant decision was to freeze the government wages in 2019, which occurred in 2020.

“He was alarmed by the rapid and unsustainable increase in government wages,” said the BER.

“Together with slowing economic growth, this led to a fiscal position that was deteriorating alarmingly. The wage freeze ultimately started the slow return to fiscal rectitude that had been the hallmark of the pre-Zuma era.”

The second was the publication of a paper on economic growth in 2019, known as the “Tito Paper.”

This included much-needed economic reforms, such as steps to lift the restrictions on private power generation.

“In the six years since the publication of the policy paper (and the subsequent reforms), a total of 6GW of non-Eskom electricity has been added to the grid, saving South Africa six stages of load shedding,” said the BER.

The National Transmission Company of South Africa was also officially launched last week. If allowed to function independently, it should lead to further private power generation in the country.

South Africa has seen over 200 days of no load shedding, which seemed almost impossible given the regular sightings of stage 5 and 6 load shedding in 2022 and 2023.

Other recommendations of the Tito paper focused on the nation’s telecommunications and logistics sectors, with a significant focus on rails and ports for the latter.

Mboweni’s third major decision as Finance Minister was responding to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This included a massive expansion of the grants system, with the Social Relief of Distress
grant giving R350 per qualifying person per month.

Although South Africa’s ability to fund the grant continues to be questioned, research from the NIDS-CRAM initiative, led by Dr Nic Spaull of Stellenbosch University, showed that the grant, which has now risen to R370, had a significant positive impact on the lives of millions.

The SRD grant could soon become a basic income grant, with Ramaphosa saying it is still part of the Government of National Unity’s (GNU’s) plans.

“It is difficult to think of an economic policymaker who has left such an enduring legacy,” said the BER in reference to Mboweni.

Following his resignation as Finance Minister, Mboweni returned to the private sector, joining the boards of Accelerate and Discovery.

Read: Changes for private school calendars in South Africa for 2025