South Africa’s rand, stocks gain after Gordhan named as finmin

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.

Van Rooyen’s appointment on Wednesday triggered the rand to plummet to record levels against the dollar and fuelled predictions that the country’s bonds would be cut to junk status.

The return of Gordhan, who held the post between 2009 and 2014, was decided on “after receiving many representations to reconsider my decision”, Zuma said in a statement on Sunday.

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”.

“Although Nene has a lower favourability rating overall than president Zuma, this is expected as he only started in the position of minister of finance in May 2014 (after the most recent general election), thus South Africans were taking some time to get to know him”, Ipsos said.

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

Booysen believes that Zuma’s sudden decision to bring Gordhan back was due to embarrassment from last week’s decision to choose a finance minister with very little credibility to replace Nene. Gordhan was removed from the finance ministry previous year during Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South Africa’s third finance minister in less than a week reassured the country on Monday that the economy will be steadied, which saw the currency stabilize.

FILE – In this Monday Nov. 30, 2015 file photo South African President Jacob Zuma attends the COP21, United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Le Bourget, outside Paris.

The selection of van Rooyen, an ANC lawmaker who has no experience in finance and was an unknown political figure nationally, led to a sudden drop in the rand, South Africa’s currency, and added to doubts among investors and credit-rating agencies about the soundness of South Africa’s financial management.

Zuma also considered the views of the party’s allies in the union movement, as well as the concerns of the financial markets, Duarte said.

The South African rand recovered on Monday following the appointment of Pravin Gordhan, the current Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, as the new finance minister.

Zuma, 73, faces the greatest threat to the country’s stability since taking office in 2009 after his decision to remove Nene injected fresh turmoil to an economy that was already being imperiled by a slump in commodity prices.