Gordhan takes over from little-known MP David van Rooyen, who was abruptly appointed last week, one day after President Jacob Zuma fired Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene.
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Zuma’s new appointee, David van Rooyen, is mostly unknown in the financial market with most of his experience obtained in the field of municipal finance.
Responding to the question on the three mass protests planned for tomorrow in a bid to demand that Zuma resign, Duarte said: “They have a right to march but we do not support their call at all”.
Zuma late on Sunday restored a widely respected Gordhan to the ministry in a dramatic U-turn that gave Africa’s most advanced economy its third finance minister in a week.
Van Rooyen will take over from Gordhan as minister for cooperative governance and traditional affairs.
“Markets should rally back very strongly but I would not expect a total retracement with a permanent loss of trust in leadership even if we are in a better place”, said Peter Attard Montalto of Nomura in London. Such was the value ascribed by investors to the re-installing of Pravin Gordhan as Finance Minister.
The decision followed Zuma’s shock announcement on 9 December that Nhlanhla Nene had been removed from the finance portfolio in Cabinet.
However, the spokesman for the ruling party, Zizi Kodwa, said top officials in the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela’s erstwhile liberation movement that has ruled since the end of apartheid in 1994, had not contemplated such drastic action.
“Given the prevailing economic climate, we appreciate the sentiment expressed by the Minister of Finance that there shall be no additional expenditure unless there is additional revenue which is sourced”, she said.
The poll was done through 3 617 face-to-face interviews with randomly-selected adult South Africans.
“South Africa has reached the ceiling of the cost Jacob Zuma can inflict upon our nation”. The removal of Nene sent the Rand currency to record lows, sparked a sell-off in bank stocks and sent yields in local and dollar-denominated debt soaring. The presidency’s statement said Gordhan’s role would include “promoting and strengthening the fiscal discipline and prudence” and “working with the financial sector so that its stability is preserved”, Timeslive reported.
“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.
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The brief tenure of Mr van Rooyen and the uncertainty it caused may have damaged South Africa’s reputation further, analysts say.
