South African Reserve Bank launches museum and opens renovated head office campus to the public

The South African Reserve Bank published Governor Lesetja Kganyago’s speech for the launch of the SARB Museum and the reopening of the bank’s renovated head office campus in Pretoria. He presented the museum as a public-facing extension of the central bank, designed to explain its mandate more clearly, including low inflation, financial stability and payments, and to bring the institution closer to the public as the SARB approaches its 105th anniversary. Kganyago said the museum is intended to serve both as an educational space and as a record of South Africa’s monetary and economic history. It includes archaeological items dating back 75,000 years, a numismatic collection spanning more than 300 years, and the country’s first minting press, which is 134 years old and still operational. The public will also, for the first time, have access to the SARB’s corporate art collection through rotating exhibitions drawn from more than 1,200 works. He said the head office renovation was the first major overhaul of the campus in more than 40 years and has created a space for public engagement rather than only modernising the bank’s workplace. In the same speech, Kganyago said the SARB has already released the first of three circulating commemorative R2 coins marking 50 years since the 1976 Youth Uprising. A second R2 coin honouring Charlotte Maxeke is planned for release in August during Women’s Month, and a third R2 coin marking 30 years since the Constitution is due in December alongside a R5 coin depicting all three themes.