Mboweni Declines South African Ruling Party Post to Parliament

Tito Mboweni, the former chairman of AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (ANG) and an ex-governor of South Africas central bank, declined to be appointed to Parliament, indicating he may not take a post in President Jacob Zumas cabinet.

Mboweni, 55, who was nominated as a lawmaker by the ruling African National Congress, withdrew his name from the list, ANC Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told reporters in Cape Town today, without disclosing the reasons for his decision.

Zuma is set to name his cabinet a day after he is sworn into office for a second term on May 24. Mboweni had been cited by some political analysts and economists as a possible replacement for Pravin Gordhan if Zuma fails to reappoint him to the position.

While South Africas constitution enables the president to appoint two cabinet ministers who arent members of Parliament, Mantashe indicated Mboweni was unlikely to be in the running for such a post.

I do not know what the logic would be of withdrawing from the lists and then still wanting to be a cabinet minister, he said.

Mboweni was reappointed to the ANCs national executive committee, the partys top decision-making body, in 2012. He resigned from AngloGold on Feb. 17, to focus on his increasing portfolio of professional commitments, the company said at the time.

The ANC also named party Chairwoman Baleka Mbete as speaker of Parliament and reappointed Stone Sizani as chief whip.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net Karl Maier

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Mboweni Declines South African Ruling Party Post to Parliament