South African Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus, who takes office today, has been welcomed by everyone from business leaders to labor unions. Marcus, 60, is the ninth leader of the 88-year-old bank, taking over from Tito Mboweni.


Marcus was most recently chairwoman of Absa Group Ltd., South Africa’s biggest retail bank controlled by Barclays Plc. Her appointment as chief executive officer of Western Areas Ltd., which owned half of the world’s biggest gold deposit, on Nov. 18, 2005, caused the company’s shares to post their biggest one-day gain in three years.

Marcus, who was born in Johannesburg, holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of South Africa. She worked for the ruling African National Congress while in exile in the U.K. from 1969, returning to South Africa in 1990. She was elected to parliament in the country’s first all-race elections in 1994, heading up the parliamentary finance committee before moving to the National Treasury.

As head of the South African Reconstruction and Development Programme, I worked under Ms Marcus during the period 1998 – 2000. The reserve bank is in safe hands and we all wish her everything of the best. Neil@directinvestment.biz http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=86469