africa. for any successful reform, you need to start with ambition and conviction, and then you need to follow that with great care and responsibility, to get the execution right. i hope with this lecture i have helped us find our ambition and conviction, so we can move on to excellence in delivery. thank you. as patrick honohan and athanasios orphanides noted in their review of south african monetary policy, “ inflation at 4. 5 % is arguably still too high to be really thought of as price stability. ” south africa – towards inclusive economic development ( sa - tied ), ‘ monetary policy in south africa, 2007 - 21 ’, sa - tied working paper no. 208, march 2022. https : / / sa - tied. wider. unu. edu / sites / default / files / satied - wp208. pdf

said? ” at the height of the attacks on foreigners most of us were notable by our silence and inaction. sadly, such indifference, anger, hatred and violence towards foreigners, particularly black africans, still finds expression among many south africans. this is at a time when we seek to accelerate economic integration in the sadc region, with all the lofty ideals of establishing a free trade area by last year ( 2008 ), a customs union by next year ( 2010 ), a common market and a monetary union by, respectively, 2015 and 2016. the ultimate objective of sadc is to build a region in which there will be a high degree of harmonisation and rationalisation to enable the pooling of resources in order to achieve collective selfreliance and improve the living standards of the people of the region. at central bank level, an important milestone has been the completion of the drafting of the proposed sadc central bank model law, which will pave the way for the harmonisation of legal and regulatory frameworks. steve biko observed that the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. indeed, the liberation of the oppressed is not only political, economic and social, but involves psychological liberation as well. can we claim to have liberated our minds when the daily statistics of rape and other forms of violence against women and children leave us questioning the very essence of our humanity? this cannot be what steve biko envisioned when he wrote : “ we have set out on a quest for true humanity, and somewhere on the distant horizon we can see the glittering prize. let us march forth with courage and determination, drawing strength from our common plight and brotherhood. in time we shall be in a position to bestow upon south africa the greatest gift possible – a more human face. ” 2 delivering this lecture three years ago, archbishop emeritus desmond tutu asked : “ what has come over us? perhaps we did not realise just how apartheid has damaged us so that we seem to have lost our sense of right and wrong, so that when we go on strike as is our ibid. right to do, we are not appalled that some of us can chuck people out of moving trains because they did not join the strike, or why is it common practice now to trash, to go on the rampage? striking municipal workers empty trash on the streets, other strikers break shop windows, loot and trash the premises? even our students on strike will often destroy the