t t mboweni : making johannesburg a world - class african city address by mr t t mboweni, governor of the south african reserve bank, at the country club johannesburg breakfast meeting, johannesburg, 8 june 2007. * * * honoured guests ladies 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

some of the world's top economists, lower input costs and strive to create a climate of certainty. by doing this, the government is showing its commitment to the economic well being of south africa. we at the reserve bank are convinced that the micro - reforms will play an important role in boosting growth and job creation. concluding remarks ladies and gentlemen, we at the south african reserve bank must also do our bit. we believe, as most central banks do, that sustained high economic growth and creation of employment opportunities can only be fulfilled when stable financial conditions prevail. this is the objective of the bank : to achieve and maintain stable financial conditions in our country. this task is spelled out in both the constitution and in the south african reserve bank act. the primary role of monetary policy, therefore, is to keep inflation in check, which is an essential ingredient in the recipe for sustainable economic growth. we aim to do this through our approach of inflation targeting. by all counts, this pillar of growth is coming into place, and our economic growth rate will be set against this more healthy background.