Remembering Tito Mboweni: A life of service and simplicity

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the funeral of former finance minister Tito Mboweni in Tzaneen, Limpopo, on Saturday. 

Mboweni died last Saturday in Johannesburg after what is said to have been a short illness. 

His funeral is expected to be attended by thousands of locals, ANC members and government dignitaries. 

Former president Thabo Mbeki, former deputy president David Mabuza, and National Assembly speaker Thoko Didiza are among the people in attendance. 

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane and the party’s national chair and mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe were also in attendance. 

Speaking to the media before the funeral, Mabuza recalled his relationship with Mboweni, the finance minister during his tenure as deputy president of the country. 

He spoke about the old, worn-out brown shoes that Mboweni was fond of, which he would wear even to official meetings. 

There are pictures of Mboweni wearing the same shoes at a meeting with Ramaphosa, who coincidentally was also wearing similar worn-out brown shoes. 

“He used to visit me at home in Cape Town a lot. I remember we were always quibbling about the shoes that he was wearing and each time, he would come with those shoes and say, ‘I know you’ll make noise about my shoes, don’t worry’, and I finally gave up and accepted that he likes his shoes,” recalled Mabuza. 

Mabuza said he and Mboweni always “engaged in serious discussions till late” each time he visited him. 

Ramaphosa afforded Mboweni a special official funeral, which is being held at the Nkowankowa Stadium in Tzaneen. 

Mourners braved the scorching heat to bid farewell to the 65-year-old who became the country’s first black SA Reserve Bank governor, a position he held for 10 years from 1999 until 2009. 

Before that, Mboweni had been an ANC activist who went into exile in 1980 as he had to flee the apartheid regime, which was brutal to those active in the struggle to end it. 

In 1994, the late former president Nelson Mandela appointed Mboweni as the first minister of labour post-apartheid, making him the youngest member of the cabinet at the age of 35. 

His obituary describes him as having had a simple and cheerful lifestyle, making reference to his old brown shoes and ‘cottage style’ home in Magoebaskloof.

“Despite his success and financial status, he wore worn shoes, enjoyed home-cooked meals and dresses plainly, and was conscious of his consumption,” read the obituary.

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