President Cyril Ramaphosa appoints South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governors

11 July 2019

President Cyril Ramaphosa has, following consultation with the Minister of Finance and the Board of the South African Reserve Bank, appointed Ms Fundi Tshazibana and Mr Rashad Ismail Cassim as Deputy Governors of the South African Reserve Bank.

Ms Tshazibana and Mr Cassim will assume their five-year terms on 1 August 2019. 

President Ramaphosa appointed the Deputy Governors in terms of Section 4(1)(a), read with Section 5(1)(a), of the South African Reserve Bank Act (Act 90 of 1989).

The appointments address two vacancies that had arisen as a result of the resignation in January 2019 of Deputy Governor Francois Groepe and the expiry of Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele’s term at the end of June 2019.

President Ramaphosa has also reappointed the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr Lesetja Kganyago, for a period of five years with effect from 9 November 2019.

Incoming Deputy Governor Tshazibana is currently an advisor to the Governor and Deputy Governors of the Bank. Ms Tshazibana holds a Master of Commerce (Economics). She worked in various institutions including Research Surveys (Research Executive); the National Electricity Regulator (Policy Analyst and Senior Policy Analyst); the National Treasury (Deputy Director-General: Macroeconomic Policy), and the International Monetary Fund (Alternative Executive Director: Africa Group 1 Constituency).

Mr Cassim is currently Head of Economic Research and Statistics at the Reserve Bank. He holds a PhD (Economics). He worked at various institutions including the University of Cape Town (Lecturer, Researcher and Director of Trade Policy Monitoring Policy Project); Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies or TIPS (Executive Director); the University of the Witwatersrand (Professor and Head of School of Economics and Business Sciences), and Statistics South Africa (Deputy Director-General: Economic Statistics).

President Ramaphosa has wished the Governor and Deputy Governors well on their forthcoming terms and said these appointments were directed at strengthening capacity and maintaining stability at this critical national institution.

Issued by Tyrone Seale, Presidency Communications, 11 July 2019