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Good governance and best practices as important institutional prerequisites feature prominently in the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and documents that were developed to enhance the social and economic development of Africa and its regions, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC). In fact, the fourteen countries in the SADC endeavour to create an economic and monetary union by 2016. This implies inter alia the establishment of a respected and independent regional central bank, characterised by good governance, as one of the key pillars of the envisaged monetary union. Since member central banks will have to comply with the appropriate criteria for best practice and independence, the question arises as to their eligibility in this regard. This article analyses the independence from their governments of five such central banks, namely Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola and Tanzania. Except for Tan