Page 23 - SARB: 100-Year Journey

From the Anglo-Boer War to the South African Reserve Bank
At 150 metres tall, the South African Reserve Bank (Bank/SARB) building stands as the tallest in Pretoria, towering over the bustling central business district (CBD). While Cape Town is the legislative capital, Pretoria is the administrative capital of South Africa. The views from the top floors of the SARB building offer a panoramic view of the city’s other equally historic architectural sites, from the south to the east and the west.
The imposing Union Buildings, an architectural masterpiece designed by the famed Sir Herbert Baker, with its immaculate lawns and manicured trees, lies to the east of the SARB headquarters. In the southwest, the Voortrekker Monument peeks from the Pretoria hilltops. So, too, does the Freedom Park Heritage Site and Museum.
The Pretoria CBD, and the city at large, is steeped in history, both past and present – the SARB building bears silent testament to the genesis and synthesis of modern South Africa. It also calls into question the antecedent roots of the institution’s founding, which run deep in the formation of present-day South Africa. The country’s history is one characterised by
coups, colonialism and conquest. It is a blood- soaked endeavour intimately intertwined with key international milestones and developments.
The Union Buildings provides an apt point of entry. The Union Buildings derived the name from the fact that it served as the administrative seat of the Union of South Africa which was formed in 1910. The building was completed in 1913. The Union of South Africa government took the decision to form the SARB. The Union Buildings remains the seat of government, hosting the Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.
Colonial expansion was a bloody convergence of economic, political and imperial ambition. The 15 years or so that preceded the Union of South Africa followed a similar trajectory. While the founding of the SARB may be the first recognised attempt at nation-wide economic organisation, the influence of capital on the political and the geopolitical landscape can only be regarded as rampant in the years between the discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand area and the formation of the Union.
British architect Sir Herbert Baker, the designer of the Union Buildings. /Getty Images
The Union Buildings and gardens, circa 1920. /The Heritage Portal
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