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Profile of the Minister of Finance
Mr Manuel was born on 31 January 1956 and completed a National Diploma in Civil and Structural Engineering at the Peninsula Technikon.
Mr Manuel entered public life in 1981 and was soon elected as Regional Secretary and a National Executive Member of the United Democratic Front (UDF), a broad anti-apartheid coalition. For these activities he was repeatedly detained without trial and placed under house arrest between 1985 and February 1990, spending a total of thirty-five months in detention. In 1991 Mr Manuel was elected to the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC) and appointed head of the Department of Economic Planning. He was elected a Member of Parliament in South Africa's first democratic elections, and in May 1994, was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry. He was then appointed Minister of Finance in April 1996.
In 1994 Mr Manuel was selected by the World Economic Forum as a "Global Leader for Tomorrow", appointed to the Advisory Committee of the UN Initiative for Trade Efficiency, and awarded the Africa Prize by the German Africa Foundation. In 1997 Minister Manuel was named Euromoney's "African Finance Minister of the Year". In September 2000, he served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund during the annual meetings in Prague. He also served as a commissioner in the Commission for Africa in 2005. Also Minister Manuel currently serves on the Commission on Growth and Development. In 2007 he was also awarded the African Banker award and African Finance Minister of the year in Washington.
Mr Manuel has the following honourary qualifications:
- Doctorate in Commerce from the Stellenbosch University (honoris causa), 2001
- Doctorate in Commerce (honoris causa) from the University of the Western Cape, 2002
- Honourary Doctorate of Technology from the Peninsula Technikon, 2002
- Honourary Doctor of Technology from Technikon SA, 2002
- Doctor of Economics (honoris causa) from the University of Natal, 2003
- Honourary Doctor of Technology from the Free State Technikon, 2003
- Doctor of Law (honoris causa) from Rhodes University, 2006
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