Address by Mr T.T. Mboweni, Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, At the Country Club Johannesburg Breakfast Meeting, 8 June 2007 Honoured guestsLadies and gentlemen 1. Introduction Thank you for the invitation to address one of your series of breakfast meetings, coming as it does only a couple of weeks after the last of a number of memorable and spectacular events marking the Centenary Celebrations of the Country Club Johannesburg. Being only 20 years younger than the city of Johannesburg, the Country Club Johannesburg is indeed an inseparable part of the heritage and history of this magnificent city. 2. History of the city It appears that there is no consensus among the historians about who gave this city the name Johannesburg. There is no dispute, however, that it was named after a man called Johann. Johann was a common Dutch name and remains so to this day. I would not be surprised if it is the most common name in the South African Reserve Bank at the moment. I guess that there could be many Johanns who can lay claim to having given the name. Apparently Johannesburg was proclaimed in a hurry as gold prospectors had begun flooding the place. In fact ten years had passed before anyone sought to enquire about the origin of the name. Many versions have been recorded by historians, including one claiming that the original name was Johannesburg, which was reportedly changed to Johannesburg as it was difficult to pronounce. The history of Johannesburg is very fascinating indeed. Just over 100 years ago, what is today the economic and financial centre of South Africa was an endless untouched savannah. This changed very fast when gold was discovered. This history is littered with many pioneers who suspected that there was gold in the area. After all gold had been found a few hundred kilometres to the east in Barberton. Some prospectors spent years buying up land, digging, trying to find the yellow ore, but nothing substantial was found. George Harrison has to his credit the discovery of gold on the farm Langlaagte in 1886. This marked the beginning of Johannesburg, which was declared a city in 1928. Gold diggers and fortune hunters arrived in droves and soon a tent town sprung up, later to become the city that is now South Africa’s main commercial hub. Gold was the catalyst which brought Johannesburg into being and the city’s identity continues to be closely linked with the yellow ore. The mine dumps that surround the city are a lasting reminder of the city’s origins. This city is appropriately called eGoli, Nguni for gold. The gold rush shantytowns that sprang up were transformed into a modern concrete city, Johannesburg, and the economic boom engulfed the entire country. The revenue generated from gold has enabled the country to develop its impressive industrial, commercial and financial strength. Today Johannesburg is a modern city in every sense – tall skyscrapers, a complex network of freeways, a bustling metropolis of industry and commerce and a hub to which people are drawn. According to the Human Sciences Research Council, the city of Johannesburg has a population which is conservatively estimated to be over three million. 3. A world-class financial centre The discovery of gold led to the establishment of many mining and financial companies, leading to the development of a stock exchange. On November 8, 1887, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was established and trading was moved around the city several times as the trading halls became too small to accommodate the amount of trading and number of traders. In 1978 the Stock exchange moved to the historic Diagonal Street, before leaving the city centre for its current location in Sandton in 2000. The JSE Limited is the largest stock exchange in Africa and is ranked among the top 20 major equity exchanges in the world. At the end of 2006, the JSE had a market capitalisation of R5,7 trillion, with 388 companies listed on the exchange. Turnover on the JSE has shown strong growth over recent years, increasing from an annual turnove
