SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: Yearning for times past? There's a word for it
In a few years Tito Mboweni might reflect wistfully on his years on his farm in Limpopo
Hiraeth has been on my mind. And this week the Welsh word seemed apt for the unexpected developments in the finance ministry. It means, by some definitions, a longing for a place to which one cannot return, such as a childhood home. But it's not the house that one may yearn for, it's the texture of a particular time, likely when life was seemingly easier. Tito Mboweni has finally achieved what some reports in the 1990s suggested was his ultimate ambition - to become finance minister. In the late 1990s, Trevor Manuel was firmly ensconced in the position. Instead, Mboweni was appointed Reserve Bank governor. It was a post he held for more than 10 years. His appointment as governor, announced in 1998, a year before he took over from Chris Stals, sparked a reactionary response and a few guarded endorsements from big business. Announced on a Saturday, it was on the Monday that the rand weakened by 40c to touch fresh lows at the time of R6.75 against the dollar. This week, just over 20 ye...
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