Lack of diplomacy aside, ‘Mboweni had a point’ on Zambia

While President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved with speed to quell a diplomatic row between South Africa and Zambia, sparked by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni, two of the country’s leading political analysts have come out in support of Mboweni.

Following the finance minister’s condemnation of Zambia’s firing of central bank governor Denny Kalyalya, Mboweni was “strongly reprimanded” by the presidency on Monday, with Ramaphosa assuring his counterpart President Edgar Lungu that the matter was being addressed and would not recur.

In reaction to Kalyalya’s dismissal by Lungu, an enraged Mboweni – former governor of the SA Reserve Bank – over the weekend took to Twitter, lashing out at Lungu for abruptly terminating the central banker’s contract without explanation.

Mboweni tweeted: “Presidents in Africa must stop this nonsense of waking up in the morning and fire a central bank governor! You cannot do that. This is not some fiefdoms of yours! Your personal property?! No! That Governor was a good fella. Why do we do these things as Africans.

“The president of Zambia must give us the reasons why he dismissed the governor – or else hell is on its way. I will mobilise!”

Revisiting his Saturday tweet, Mboweni on Sunday stuck to his guns: “Looks like I am in trouble about my statement on the dismissal of the Bank of Zambia Governor! I stand by my statement. Central bank independence is key. Not negotiable. Let all central bankers speak out!”

To independent political analyst Dr Ralph Mathekga, Mboweni’s tweet reflected a lack of leadership in Southern Africa.

Mathekga said:  “When SADC (Southern African Development Community) has no clear leadership direction, things like this happen. There is supposed to be better guidance among regional states on such matters, but leaders don’t talk to each other and address each other on these kinds of issues.

“Hence, you see the likes of Tito Mboweni breaking ranks because there is no leadership direction. Tito has taken a stance on Zambia because his country has not taken a position.

“He is pledging solidarity at regional level as a finance minister.”

Zambia, said Mathekga, was “a country that relies on foreign aid”.

He said: “How do you justify giving out foreign aid to a country that cannot demonstrate financial probity? The issue here is also linked to SA, whereby we know how the ANC wants to encroach on National Treasury management, the fiscus and the SA National Reserve Bank.

“Tito has a point on the basis of good governance, something in which the region is failing. I support him fully.”

Agreeing with the sentiments expressed by Mboweni, economist Mike Schussler said: “I fully agree with him (Tito Mboweni) but I am not sure he should have tweeted about it.

“We do need central banks that are as independent as the judiciary. They better not do anything to Tito, but to rap somebody over the knuckles is what government must do.

“But I don’t think this will have anything on the country’s economy – especially with the rand strengthening. It is merely a storm in a teacup

“Firing a central bank governor as Zambia has done, without explanation, has a detrimental impact on the markets.

“There has to be an agreement in the world that as long as central banks speak to targets, economics, policies and inflation, they should be left alone.”

brians@citizen.co.za

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