S/Africa: Protesters to march against Zuma over reshuffle

Zuma is a member of the African National Congress (ANC), which has been in power in South Africa since 1994, when apartheid ended.

Van Rooyen was sworn in last Thursday, after Zuma’s office announced late last Wednesday that sitting finance minister Nhlanhla Nene was sacked.

Insiders are reported to have confirmed Nene’s shuffle out of finance was due to an urgent restructuring deal in the South African Airways-Airbus deal. Adding to the government’s woes, Moody’s Investors Service cut its outlook on South Africa to “negative” from “stable” late on Tuesday, citing structural challenges in the country’s mining industry and increasing political pressures.

His initial appointment of van Rooyen, a Zuma loyalist in parliament, touched off a critical storm and selling frenzy in the rand currency, stock and bond markets. Zuma’s fiasco has come at a time when the ANC is at a crucial stage with local elections looming next year, in which the party will face stiff competition from the opposition Democratic Alliance and the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters in urban areas, including the economic hub of Johannesburg. “The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) may have to intervene by raising interest rates, which will consequently put pressure on Namibia to do the same since they didn’t do it last week”, Heuer said.

ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said a number of hoax statements had been doing the rounds, saying Zuma had been recalled.

“We must tell the stories of bravery and resilience, of fighting a mighty apartheid state with nearly nothing, and the triumph of good over evil”, he said at a Reconciliation Day event at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.

The rand has tumbled 23 percent against the dollar in 2015.

They also described the return to the ministry of Gordhan, who also held the job from 2009 to 2014, as a sign Zuma was losing his grip.

Separately, Zuma appeared relaxed and unfazed after a meeting in Pretoria with church leaders who had demanded an audience to express their concerns about Nene’s sacking.

Thousands of South Africans calling for the removal of President Jacob Zuma marched in cities across the country on Wednesday.

“And even then we would conclude it is hard to see [a] recall without previous supporters changing their minds”, he said.

Demonstrators chanted “Zuma must go” in Johannesburg in footage broadcast by the television station eNCA.