On Monday, Gordhan reassured the country that the economy will be steadied.
Advertisement
President Jacob Zuma’s willingness to reconsider his decision to appoint David van Rooyen as finance minister demonstrated “bold leadership”, the ANC said on Tuesday.
Edinburgh/Johannesburg: South Africa’s government tried to shore up credibility after President Jacob Zuma’s debacle over who should run the finance ministry called into question his ability to oversee a deteriorating economy.
Van Rooyen was appointed to replace Nhlanhla Nene, but by then the markets were in turmoil, with the rand falling to record lows against major currencies.
South African assets remained in favour on Tuesday with local markets extending the previous session’s rally after Pravin Gordhan was named as finance minister, which stemmed last week’s sell-off.
“The appointment of a finance minister always impacts on the Rand…” On Thursday, David van Rooyen was sworn in.
Economist Dawie Roodt told Fin24: “It isn’t about Gordhan or Nene or Van Rooyen”.
The rand also recovered in spectacular fashion after the news broke.
“I return to a portfolio that was assigned to me for five years between 2009 and 2014”. “I represent the new scenario”, he said.
The rand made a slight recovery after Gordhan’s re-appointment on Sunday.
“As a democratic government, we emphasise the importance of listening to the people and to respond to their views”, it added. He previously occupied the post from 2009-14, and is considered a safe pair of hands to guide Africa’s second-largest economy. Just a week before, ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country to BBB-.
Although the criticism mostly came from the opposition, the decision shocked the president’s traditional allies, specifically the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).
Duarte refuted reports that Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa had threatened to resign following the sacking of Nene. The chairwoman of SAA is a close friend of Zuma.
“Rumors about a romance and a child are baseless and are created to cast aspersions on the President”, Zuma’s office said in a statement dismissing a list of rumors.
He further alleged that Nene was removed because he was reluctant to approve the country’s new nuclear deal which the president supported. And last month he rejected an effort by near-bankrupt state-owned South African Airways to rewrite an aircraft-purchase agreement bringing a broker with ties to the ruling party into the transaction.
Advertisement
The appointment of van Rooyen to one of the government’s most important positions was particularly reckless, they said, because South Africa was already reeling from the worldwide drop in the price of commodities and almost slipped into a recession recently.
