Newly appointed reserve bank deputy governors Nomf
Newly appointed reserve bank deputy governors Nomfundo Tshazibana and Rashad Cassim.
  • The SARB announced on Wednesday that Lesetja Kganyago will stay on as governor for another five years.
  • Two deputy governors have also been appointed.
  • Fundi Tshazibana and Rashad Cassim have both had long careers in and outside the civil service.
  • For more stories, go to Business Insider SA.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) on Wednesday afternoon announced Lesetja Kganyago's reappointment as governor for another five years, and the appointment of Nomfundo (Fundi) Tshazibana and Rashad Cassim as deputy governors. 

Tshazibana’s and Cassim’s appointment fill the two vacancies left by the resignation of Francois Groepe in January 2019, and the retirement of Daniel Mminele at the end of June 2019.  

Cassim is currently the head of the research department at the South African Reserve Bank, while Tshazibana was appointed as an adviser to the governor of the bank last year.

Here’s what else you need to know about the new deputy governors:

Fundi Tshazibana

Tshazibana worked at the IMF 

42-year-old Tshazibana sat on the executive board of the International Monetary Fund as an alternate executive director from 2015 to 2018. The executive board runs the day-to-day operations of the IMF in Washington. Before joining the IMF she served as the deputy director-general in charge of the economic policy and forecasting division at National Treasury.

She investigated the unbundling of Eskom 

Tshazibana also worked at the national energy regulator of South Africa (NERSA) where she served as a senior policy analyst. At the time she worked on policy options for the restructuring the electricity industry, including the unbundling and selling off of Eskom. 

Tshazibana matriculated at 15, and had a degree by age 18

Tshazibana, who grew up in Benoni, matriculated at the age of 15, and graduated at the age of 18 with a BCom degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). She later received Honours and Master's degrees in economics and commerce. 

She wanted to be a lawyer and a journalist.. 

In an interview with Destiny Magazine, Tshazibana said the TV-series LA Law and South Africa’s political activists inspired her to study law at UKZN, but quickly realised that studying case studies as a profession weren’t as glamours as made out on screen. She switched to economics, which seemed more "exciting".

... but never considered politics

"The life of a politician - and making compromises on economic principles - would be very difficult for me. Once you know the truth about something, you can't ignore that knowledge," she told Destiny.

Rashad Cassim

Cassim was in charge of South Africa's inflation and GDP numbers 

The 53-year-old Cassim previously served as Stats SA’s deputy director-general responsible for economic statistics including the country’s inflation and gross domestic product (GDP) numbers between 2006 and 2011.  

Cassim's research focussed on world trade and privatisation

He earned a PhD in economics from the University of Cape Town and, during his career as an academic, his research focussed on the World Trade Organisation, as well on the economics of regulation and privatisation. He went on to become head of the School of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of Witwatersrand. 

He is a fierce defender of the SARB 

Cassim in June criticized the debate surrounding the nationalisation of the Reserve Bank. Cassim said the public should understand the motive behind nationalising the Reserve Bank, adding that people might have the wrong interpretation of the bank's actions due to its private ownership.

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