VIDEO: President Zuma defends Nene’s axing
President Jacob Zuma has defended his decision in December to sack Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister, insisting that it was a considered step and should not be seen as the cause for the rand’s fall to record lows.
“It is important to say that the rand was going down when Nene was there. It had been going down for months and months, it was not triggered by the decision,” Zuma told eNCA in an interview on Sunday night when questioned about the decision that sent shockwaves through the markets.
However, he said he considered the reaction over-blown.
“I think there was an exaggeration in terms of the reaction,” Zuma said, adding that “people did not understand”.
Zuma said his decision was motivated by the need to appoint somebody with international stature, who had served as a minister to head the African Regional Centre of the New Development Bank, which was recently created by the BRICS nations.
“We want that bank to succeed,” he added.
Zuma said he would have faced severe criticism if he had appointed a relative unknown to the bank job, such as David van Rooyen, the ANC backbencher he picked to replace Nene as finance minister before the ANC and banking sector prevailed on him days later resulting in the return of Pravin Gordhan to his old job.
The interview, which followed the President’s delivery of the January 8 policy statement – the anniversary of the formation of the ANC – focused at length on the economy, with Zuma saying perceptions that he was “breaking the economy” were unfounded.
Zuma said race was an important factor in fixing the economy and creating jobs. He ventured that black economic empowerment was proceeding slowly and that all but three percent of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange remained in white hands.
“That is the structure of our economy. We can’t break it in order to correct it,” he said. - ANA
(File photo: Gallo Images)