“Markets have reacted strongly to political machinations, resulting in the much needed u-turn that has led to the hasty appointment of a credible finance minister”, Lesiba Mothata, chief economist at asset manager Investment Solutions, said in an e-mailed statement.
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On Sunday, President Jacob Zuma’s office announced that recently appointed finance minister David van Rooyen will be replaced by Pravin Gordhan, who previously served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014.
Zuma had immediately replaced Nene with a relatively unknown lawmaker, David can Rooyen, sparking a wave of critisim and financial turmoil.
The abrupt announcement to replace Nene saw South Africa’s currency reach record lows against the USA dollar. Former South African health minister and leading anti-apartheid activist Barbara Hogan was the first on Friday to call for Zuma’s resignation.
“I have appointed Mr Pravin Gordhan, the current Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as the new Minister of Finance”.
Former Cosatu General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who was critical of Van Rooyen’s appointment, on Sunday night Tweeted that the president “lost the plot completely”.
“The criticism he has received both inside and outside the ANC shows that he is a President who has lost internal control of his party and who no longer enjoys public support”, Maimane said.
Mmusi Maimane, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, said: “Zuma must stop playing Russian roulette with our economy”. “Zuma is a humiliation and disaster for South Africa, who prioritises personal aspirations at the expense of the country”.
This picture of Van Rooyen and Zuma shaking hands, which seemed to have been posted initially by eNCA’s Lester Kiewit, went viral on Twitter with 1800 retweets. “I think all of us at time-to-time are faced with situations where we have to change our minds”, said Mboweni on Zuma’s decision.
“As a democratic government, we emphasize the importance of listening to the people and to responding to their views”.
The minister had rebuked Dudu Myeni, the airline’s chairwoman and a close ally of Mr Zuma, for mismanaging a 1 billion rand deal with Airbus.
He will also promote and strengthen fiscal discipline and prudence, and work with the financial sector to preserve its stability under the umbrella of the Twin Peaks reform, while ensuring that the National Treasury is more acceptable to all sections of our society, and adhere to the set expenditure ceiling while maintaining a stable trajectory of the debt portfolio, as set out in the February 2015 Budget.
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The sentiment on social media could perhaps be summed up as, if we don’t laugh, we will surely cry.
