The Reserve Bank governors.

The Governors are appointed by the State President under the South African Reserve Bank Act, in consultation with the Minister of Finance and the SARB board. Each Governor chairs the Monetary Policy Committee and signs the banknotes issued during their tenure. Terms run five years and may be renewed — Postmus and de Kock III both served extended periods, and Kganyago is now on his third five-year term.

I 1921 — 1931 10 years · Founding Governor

— The founding Governor —

William Henry Clegg

1853 — 1932 · Selected from the Bank of England

The first Governor of the South African Reserve Bank, appointed when the bank was established by the Currency and Banking Act of 1920. Clegg had been a senior official at the Bank of England and brought the conventions of Threadneedle Street to the new institution — independence, conservative reserve policy, and an arm's-length relationship to government.

His tenure saw the issue of the first SARB banknotes in 1922 — Ten Shillings, One Pound, Five Pounds, and Twenty Pounds — printed by Waterlow & Sons in London. He oversaw the first decade of South African paper currency as a sovereign issue, the move from the colonial banks of the free-banking era to a single central authority. His successor's gold-standard mistake of 1932 stood in sharp contrast to his cautious approach.

II 1932 — 1945 13 years · Wartime tenure

— The gold-standard crisis · The Dutch connection —

Dr. Johannes Postmus

1877 — 1947 · Nederlandsche Bank voor Zuid-Afrika

Dutch-born, Nederlandsche Bank-trained. Postmus took office on 1 January 1932, four months after Britain had left the gold standard, and supported the National Party position that South Africa should stay on gold independently. The decision proved disastrous — the SA pound appreciated sharply, devastating exports and hitting Afrikaner farmers hardest. South Africa was forced off gold in December 1932, twelve months into his term.

His signature appears on SARB banknotes for over thirteen years — Ten Shillings through One Hundred Pounds — making him one of the most-collected signatories in SA paper-money history. The 1933 £100 specimen is the headline collectable; the 1933 Ten Shillings specimen sold at Noonans for £150 in 2017.

Full biography →

III 1945 — 1962 17 years · The longest tenure

— The decimalisation Governor —

Dr. Michiel Hendrik de Kock

1895 — 1976 · Academic economist · 17-year term

Took office on 1 July 1945, six weeks after V-E Day. De Kock served the longest term in SARB history — seventeen years — spanning the entire post-war reconstruction, the apartheid-era political shift of 1948, and the lead-up to the country's most consequential monetary reform: the move from pound to rand on 14 February 1961.

His signature is on the last sterling SARB banknotes and the first decimal Rand series issued in 1961. The transitional 1961 issues — featuring de Kock's signature on both denominations — are key documents of South African paper-money history. He was also an academic economist of standing, author of the textbook Central Banking (1939), which became a reference work internationally.

IV 1962 — 1967 5 years · Single term

— The first rand-only Governor —

Dr. Gerhard Rissik

1908 — 1985 · One five-year term

Took office on 1 July 1962, eighteen months after decimalisation. Rissik's entire tenure was conducted in rand — the first SARB Governor to never sign a pound-denominated note. His tenure coincided with the country's increasing political isolation following the 1961 Republic declaration and the Sharpeville aftermath. The R1 Rissik notes from this period are among the most accessible collectable signed-banknotes.

He served one five-year term and was succeeded by T.W. de Jongh, who would hold the position for an unusually long stretch under apartheid-era sanctions.

V 1967 — 1980 13 years · The Van Riebeeck era

— Apartheid-era isolation · The portrait error —

Dr. Theunis Willem de Jongh

1922 — 2014 · Long tenure under sanctions

Took office on 1 July 1967. De Jongh's thirteen-year term spans almost the entire Van Riebeeck Series of SARB banknotes — the longest-running banknote series in South African history, and the one that famously bore the portrait of Bartholomeus Vermuyden rather than Jan van Riebeeck. The Library covers the portrait error in detail; de Jongh signed nearly every note in that series.

His tenure also coincided with the introduction of decimal-only currency, the country's growing isolation under international sanctions, and the establishment of the gold-backed Krugerrand as an international bullion product in 1967 — the year he took office.

VI 1981 — 1989 8 years · Inflation-control era

— Son of the third Governor —

Dr. Gerhard P.C. de Kock

1924 — 1989 · Son of M.H. de Kock

The son of the third Governor — a rare instance of a central-banking lineage. De Kock the younger took office on 1 January 1981, into the inflationary economy of the early 1980s and the political turmoil of the State of Emergency years. His signature appears on the last Van Riebeeck series notes and the early Mamelodi Big Five series introduced in 1992 (which used his predecessor's design plans before he himself died in office in 1989).

Died in office on 8 August 1989. His tenure laid the technical groundwork for the inflation-targeting framework that successive Governors would formalise.

VII 1989 — 1999 10 years · The transition decade

— The political transition · Apartheid to democracy —

Dr. Chris Stals

1935 — 2025 · 10-year tenure across the transition

Took office on 8 August 1989, the day Dr. Gerhard de Kock died, and held the position through the entire political transition — the unbanning of the ANC, the 1994 democratic elections, the rebasing of the South African economy after decades of sanctions. Stals's signature appears on the late Mamelodi Big Five notes and the first second-issue Mamelodi notes of the late 1990s.

His tenure is notable for the SARB's continued institutional independence through one of the most volatile political periods in modern history — and for his role in maintaining international financial stability as South Africa rejoined the IMF and World Bank.

VIII 1999 — 2009 10 years · First Black Governor

— Inflation targeting · First Black Governor —

Tito Titus Mboweni

1959 — 2024 · First Black Governor · Inflation-targeting architect

Appointed on 8 August 1999, Mboweni was the first Black Governor of the SARB and the architect of South Africa's formal inflation-targeting regime, introduced in 2000 with a 3 – 6% target band that remains in place today. His tenure saw the introduction of the second Mamelodi series with enhanced security features, the 2005 withdrawal of the original R200 notes for counterfeiting, and the establishment of the SARB's modern monetary-policy framework.

Mboweni left the SARB in November 2009 and later served as Minister of Finance from 2018 to 2021. He died in October 2024, shortly before the conclusion of Kganyago's second term.

IX 2009 — 2014 5 years · First female Governor

— First female Governor · The Mandela series —

Gillian (Gill) Marcus

b. 1949 · First female Governor of SARB

Took office on 9 November 2009, the first woman to hold the position. Marcus had previously served as Deputy Governor under Mboweni and as a non-executive director of the SARB. Her signature appears on the late second-issue Mamelodi notes and — most significantly — on the 2012 Nelson Mandela series, the banknotes issued to mark the launch of the new design celebrating Mandela's life and the country's democratic era.

Her tenure spanned the post-2008 global financial crisis recovery period. She served a single five-year term and was succeeded by Lesetja Kganyago, who had been her Deputy Governor.

X 2014 — 2029 Current · Third term

— Current Governor · Three terms · The polymer transition —

Elias Lesetja Kganyago

b. 1965 · Director-General of National Treasury before SARB

Took office on 9 November 2014, and reappointed for successive five-year terms in 2019 and 2024 — his third term concluding on 8 November 2029. Kganyago is the longest-serving current African central bank governor and the chair of the SARB's Monetary Policy Committee, Prudential Committee, and Financial Stability Committee.

His tenure has overseen the introduction of the 2018 Mandela centenary commemoratives, the 2023 polymer-substrate notes (the country's first plastic banknotes), and the ongoing dialogue around digital currency and stablecoins. He holds an MSc in Economics from SOAS, University of London, and was previously Director-General of National Treasury.

The Governors' signatures appear on every SARB banknote of their tenure — making them collecting anchors in their own right. Four series and one specialist biography below map each Governor to the notes they signed. The Postmus page covers the gold-standard era; First SARB Series covers Clegg and Postmus; Van Riebeeck Series covers de Kock III through to de Kock VI; Mamelodi and Mandela cover the modern Governors.