Treasury endorses SA’s Tshabalala to be next CEO at African Development Bank (AfDB)
South Africa’s National Treasury endorsed Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala, a former senior staffer at the African Development Bank, to become the next head of the pan-African lender. Tshabalala stepped down from her role as senior vice president of the Abidjan-based AfDB on Tuesday after receiving an endorsement from the South African cabinet for her candidacy to become the next president of the bank.
The lender’s current head, Akinwumi Adesina, is scheduled to step down in September 2025.
“Ms. Tshabalala’s candidacy represents continuity,” Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in a statement on Wednesday. “It also represents an opportunity for a capable female leader to take up a key African leadership position. We will be working closely with her to ensure that her campaign is a successful one.”
Below is the Report
Lusaka and Pretoria at loggerheads within SADC
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, whom Zambia irked with its candidate for the AfDB presidency and its stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has issued veiled critiques of his counterpart Hakainde Hichilema behind his calls for cohesion within the regional bloc.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema may have been absent from the last Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit, held on August 17 in Harare, but he was nonetheless the focus of many discussions there.
During a closed-door meeting of heads of state, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa complained about the lack of cohesion among the bloc’s members, a thinly veiled rebuke of his Zambian counterpart.
Ramaphosa, who has been taking strong positions on the international stage, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Western Sahara, is mainly concerned about seeing his influence wane in the region.
The South African president’s frustration was compounded at this same summit by SADC’s decision to back the candidacy of Zambian economist Samuel Munzele Maimbo for the presidency of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Pretoria had hoped that the bloc would support the current vice president of the pan-African institution, South African Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala.
Geopolitical disputes
Pretoria’s disquiet over the choice of Maimbo’s stems from the fact that he has spent more than two decades working for the World Bank, one of AfDB’s main.
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I have gone through this article but I can’t see where and how loggerheads can come from. What read from the story is that South Africa and Zambia are each supporting the candidature of its own citizen, i.e. Bajabulile Swazi Tshabalala and Samuel Munzele Maimbo respectively, something which is normal. For example, if we were to support the candidature of a CAF president, South Africa would Khumalo while Zambia would support Kalusha Bwalya. It’s also normal to differ on International policies, the way it is with Zambia and South Africa on Israeli -Gaza conflict. At the peak of liberation struggle and Apartheid, we had bloc of Frontline States in the region but Malawi was not a Member and remained the best friend South Africa that time. Zambia and Malawi were never at loggerheads, so why should Zambia and South Africa be at loggerheads over these differences? It’s not necessary. And when we look at SADC, it’s a bloc of 16 countries, and the two issues at hand are the support of the AfDB Director to be and the stance on Israeli-Gaza war. If one country like Zambia doesn’t support South Africa and other member countries do, where is the problem there? As already alluded to, Malawi did the same to Frontline States but they forged ahead and finally achieved their goal without looking at or hating Malawi. Even Malawi and Malawi enjoys cordial and excellent relations with Zambia and the rest of the SADC bloc. Also never forget that South Africa and Zambia are two separate sovereign countries and no one can force the friend to follow its domestic and international policies, the choice is entirely in each country’s hand.
But is it really necessary?