Page 45 - SARB: 100-Year Journey

At the preliminary meeting of May 1921, the Board approved several key appointments, including that of the Bank’s Secretary, Alec Burns. “On this occasion, the Board also authorised the Governor to enter into negotiations for the purchase of Erf 228 ... and approved ‘the steps taken for remodelling the old Government Library as temporary premises for the Bank’,” it is noted in the 50th anniversary publication (South African Reserve Bank, 1971, p14).
In the 1920s, the site was host to a shop and residential dwelling. Former Transvaal President Paul Kruger’s house was in the same vicinity. The Bank spent all of £7 000 to purchase the site. Erf 228, in Church Street, Pretoria, is the current address of South Africa’s Ministry of Finance.
On 29 July 1921, the Bank held its first Ordinary General Meeting of Stockbrokers. At this meeting, the Board approved expenses relating to the printing of the country’s first banknotes under the Bank, for which delivery was expected between September 1921 and December 1921. The notes were to be in denominations of 1, 5, 20 and 100 South African pounds, totalling 8.75 million banknotes.
Extract from the minutes of the preliminary meeting of the SARB’s Board of Directors held on 9 May 1921 in Room 39 at the Union Buildings. /SARB
Cost of banknotes: extract from minutes of the First Ordinary General Meeting of Stockholders held on 29 July 1921. /SARB
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