S. Africa’s ruling ANC backs embattled Zuma

Capital markets suffered major losses following Thursday’s announcement that Nene had been replaced by David van Rooyen as finance minister.

In a statement on Sunday, the president said that after replacing Nene he had “received many representations to reconsider my decision”. “‎‎”‎As a democratic government, we emphasise the importance of listening to the people and to respond to their views.

Gordhan, 66, was named as finance minister on Sunday after Zuma abandoned his initial choice of little-known lawmaker David van Rooyen. The rand plummeted to record lows.

South African economy has been under strain recently but is still the second-largest economy in Africa behind Nigeria.

His stint as finance minister was short-lived as Zuma did an about-turn following a public outcry and pressure from financial and political circles.

Bank executives, including Barclays Africa Group Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos, Investec CEO Stephen Koseff and Goldman Sachs local head Colin Coleman, met with senior ANC officials Jeff Radebe and Zweli Mkhize to express their concern at Van Rooyen’s appointment, Radebe told reporters.

Gordhan promised to uphold South Africa’s spending ceiling, reform failing state-owned enterprises and protect the country’s credit rating.

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.

“It’s fascinating that when a Monday morning comes along all those numbers have changed in a very positive sense”, said Gordhan.

South Africa’s economy narrowly avoided a recession in the third quarter, posting 0.7 percent annualized growth compared with the previous quarter when it shrank 1.3 percent.

Calls for Zuma’s removal have been circulating on social media in the wake of Nene’s sacking and more than one march is being organised in support of these calls. The airline’s chairwoman, Dudu Myeni, is a close ally of Zuma.

“He is a seasoned finance minister who has also been at the South African Revenue Services with some degree of success, and he was there before the Nkandla issue took place”.

On Monday, BusinessDay newspaper reported that the Cabinet approved a deal for the proposed nuclear power program on the day Nene was sacked.

In my opinion, President Zuma’s mission was to constitutionally use van Rooyen to sign the cheque the South African Airways (SAA) desperately needed.

“An attempt was made to cross a line that hasn’t been made in 20 years, which was to make the national treasury a vehicle for the interests of particular politicians”, said Steven Friedman, director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy.