Remarks by Mr TT Mboweni, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank at an ANC breakfast meeting, Johannesburg, 22 June 2005. Ladies and gentlemenDistinguished guests Thank you for inviting me here this morning to say a word or two about the South African economy. When I received this invitation to be here this morning, a number of questions arose in my mind. The primary one being whether a governor of a central bank should speak at occasions such as this which are organised by political organisations. It was a vexing question which required of me a serious answer. Central bank governors have to demonstrate at all times their commitment to the independence of central banks from political influence. In fact central bank independence also means rebutting any attempt by anyone including market participants to influence their decisions or interfere in their operational work. At the same time, central bank governors have to engage in extensive communications with the markets, the general population, governments and parliaments. So any opportunity to communicate should be seriously considered and if time permits, should be entertained whether from a political party, market participants or any other organisation which is reputable. So any political organisations wishing to invite me to their functions are welcome to do so. We just have to negotiate time. It is against this background that I accepted your invitation to be here this morning. South Africa is still very much a country in transition. It is a country of many hopes and opportunities. Firstly, the political system is maturing. Most certainly, the political system is entrenching democratic values and systems. People stand for elections within their parties – sometimes squabbling very badly privately and in the media in their endeavours to be elected, they avail themselves as candidates for local council chambers, provincial legislatures and the national parliament. Debate is generally developing in its robustness. More often than not acrimoniously so. Not a place for the weak! Secondly the media – the fourth estate – is lively and maturing too. Public officials and private executives are closely scrutinised to check on their performances and good corporate governance standing in order to move the country forward. The media questions and exposes. Sometimes their approach is certainly questionable but on the whole they are making a good contribution to our society. There is room for improvement particularly in financial journalism – a matter being attended to by some journalism schools. But an open and democratic society by definition requires a vigorous, investigative and independent media. Thirdly, the judiciary, despite its many weaknesses given where we come from, is independent and is making its contribution towards the respect for the law by all of us. Issues are being attended to as far as the transformation of the judiciary both in terms of form and content is concerned. Progress in this regard is promising as the government and the judiciary are hard at work to achieve this historically fundamental objective. The respect for the judiciary really demands that the authorities must not keep their eyes off the transformation ball. But whatever the outcomes of this process, the end result must be to protect and enhance the independence and respect for the judiciary. Fourthly, we have in South Africa policies and laws that respect, protect and understand the fundamental role of private property rights in the economic development of our society. Those who a couple of years ago doubted the positive role of private property in society and its role in the economy are slowly coming to the conclusion that people’s rights in private property are prerequisites for promoting investment and certainty that one’s investment today can be protected by law, with the courts available to enforce it and thus confident to grow businesses whether industrial or agricultural. There are still many countries on our continent which should still need to improve private property rights in order