JZ shock move to shame Gordhan
President Jacob Zuma has ‘stooped low’ with recall of the finance minister and has been criticised in many quarters as markets go into a tailspin.
Many people will be watching the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria today when an application involving Gupta-owned Oakbay Investments and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will be heard.
President Jacob Zuma, in an unexpected move, yesterday ordered Gordhan and his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, to return to South Africa from a trip abroad.
“President Jacob Zuma has instructed the Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, and Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas to cancel the international investment promotion road show to the United Kingdom and the United States and return to South Africa immediately,” the Presidency said in a one-line statement.
Following the announcement, speculation was rife over an anticipated Cabinet reshuffle which Zuma could use to drive Gordhan out of his portfolio.
In responding to Zuma, National Treasury confirmed that Gordhan and National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile were preparing to return last night from the UK and were expected in South Africa this morning.
Jonas, who was scheduled to undertake the US leg of the trip last night, also cancelled his travel plans.
The rand fell by as much as 1.7% against the US dollar, bonds tumbled and banking shares slid more than 2% on the news of Gordhan’s recall to SA.
Investors see Gordhan as a symbol of stability, especially given South Africa’s weak economic growth and tensions in the ANC.
Last year, fraud charges brought against Gordhan badly rattled financial markets and spurred accusations of a political “witch-hunt”.
Financial markets were also shaken before Gordhan’s budget speech last month by rumours that he might be moved from the Treasury in a reshuffle.
Gordhan has said it was Zuma’s prerogative to fire him if he saw fit to do so.
Speaking after a meeting with investors in London, Gordhan said he had not been recalled but “just asked to come back”, adding that he had been planning, anyway, to skip the US leg of the road show and to return home.
He declined to comment on Zuma’s possible motive. Asked if he expected a Cabinet reshuffle, he said: “That’s the prerogative of the boss.”
Gordhan first served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014. Zuma reappointed Gordhan in December 2015 after the president’s decision to replace the respected Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister with little-known Des van Rooyen triggered a steep sell-off in South African assets.