Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) have welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appointment of Dr Mampho Modise as deputy governor of the SARB, following the resignation of Kuben Naidoo in November 2023.

Modise is the current deputy director-general of Public Finance in the National Treasury.

Her appointment starts on April 1 and is for a period of five years.

The entities have also welcomed Lesetja Kganyago’s reappointment as governor of the SARB, as well as Nomfundo (Fundi) Tshazibana and Dr Rashad Cassim as deputy governors of the SARB, each for another five-year term.

The new terms of Kganyago, Tshazibana and Cassim will start when their current five-year terms conclude later this year.

Modise’s appointment follows a thorough consultation between the President, Godongwana and the SARB board.

Godongwana says Modise can succeed in what will be a challenging role, given her deep background in public economics and finances.

She began her public service career as an intern at the SARB in 2004, and by the time she left the central bank, she held the position of economist.

After joining the National Treasury in 2009 as a senior economist in the Economic Policy Unit, Modise steadily climbed the ranks and soon earned a promotion to director of Fiscal Policy, and thereafter the position of chief director of Strategy and Risk Management.

She was eventually appointed deputy director-general of Public Finance, in 2017.

Her duties as deputy director-general of Public Finance included being responsible for fiscal and financial monitoring in the evaluation of policy proposals across national departments and assessing and performing oversight over public and State-owned entities.

Modise holds a BCom in Economics, BCom Honours in Econometrics, a MCom in Econometrics (cum laude), and a PhD in Economics in 2013, all from the University of Pretoria.

“Dr Modise is a dedicated, talented official with a genuine passion for the public service and keen appreciation of the challenging macroeconomic period the country is currently facing.

“She is also a competent leader and the SARB, as well as the nation as a whole, will benefit immensely from her diligence,” Godongwana avers.

The vacancy occasioned by Modise’s departure from the National Treasury will be filled once the process necessary to fill the post has been completed.

Kganyago’s new term will start on November 9.

A lifelong public servant, he is said to have extensive experience in macroeconomic policy formulation, including fiscal and monetary policy, financial sector policy, international finance, public debt management and financial markets.

Kganyago also played a leading role in implementing public finance and budgetary reforms at the National Treasury which led to greater transparency and accountability of the country’s public finance and budget processes, the SARB points out.

He is the chairperson of the SARB’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the Financial Stability Committee (FSC) and the Prudential Committee (Pruco).

He chairs the Committee of Central Bank Governors of the Southern African Development Community, co-chairs the Financial Stability Board’s Regional Consultative Group for sub-Saharan Africa, and chaired the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Standards Implementation.

Kganyago holds an MSc in Economics from SOAS University of London and a BCom degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of South Africa.

Tshazibana’s second term of office will begin on August 1.

She is also the CEO of the Prudential Authority, a position she took up on April 1, 2022.

She is a member of the MPC, FSC and Pruco at the SARB. She serves as the vice chairperson of the Network for Greening the Financial Sector and represents the SARB on the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the Financial Stability Board’s Standing Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Cooperation.

She is an economist with a wealth of knowledge in public policy analysis and formulation, the SARB points out.

She holds a MComm (Economics) degree and a BCom (Honours) (Economics) degree from the University of Natal.

Cassim will start his second term as deputy governor on August 1.

Before joining the SARB, Cassim served as the deputy director general responsible for economic statistics at Statistics South Africa.

He holds a PhD in Economics and a Master’s and Honours in Economic History from University of Cape Town.