Political Analyst, Dirk Kotzé, says he believes the removal or resignation of Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene would not have as big an impact on the rand as is it did when former president Jacob Zuma fired him.
The move in 2015 sent the rand into free fall and wiped off billions from South Africa’s capital markets. There’ve been several calls for Nene to resign after he testified last week at the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture that he met the Gupta family between 2010 and 2014, while he was deputy finance minister and later minister.
It is being reported that Nene has called President Cyril Ramaphosa offering to resign.
Kotzé explains, “President Ramaphosa has a few options; he can either say he will follow the request or say given the fact that you have apologized at the commission and you have offered your resignation, that is more than enough in terms of making an ethical gesture and we can keep you. The big difference between December 2015, when he was dismissed by Zuma, and the current situation is if he leaves his office it will not have the same impact on the rand and financial markets in general because it is predictable and not against his wishes.”
