Zuma Fires “Simba Makoni” Nhlanhla Nene
10 December 2015
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fired...Nhlanhla Nene
fired…Nhlanhla Nene

President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday made a shocking move by removing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene from his job.
The development similar to when Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe fired former Finance Minister Simba Makoni, comes after Nene was rumoured to have refused to purchase a new private jet for the President.
“I have decided to remove Mr Nhlanhla Nene as Minister of Finance, ahead of his deployment to another strategic position,” the president said in a statement on Wednesday evening.
Zuma said Nene — South Africa’s first black finance minister — would be replaced by David van Rooyen, the whip of Parliament’s standing committee on finance, who also serves as whip of the economic transformation cluster.
“Mr Nene has done well since his appointment as minister of finance during a difficult economic climate. Mr Nene enjoys a lot of respect in the sector locally and abroad, having also served as a deputy minister of finance previously,” Zuma added.
Nene was appointed as Finance Minister in May last year and succeeded Pravin Gordhan.
South Africa’s investment grade credit rating is under serious threat after a downgrade last Friday and it could struggle to fund crucial infrastructure projects and help put the economy on a more robust growth path.
On Friday, Fitch ratings agency downgraded the rating of Africa’s most industrialised economy by one notch to BBB-, the lowest investment grade category. It cited the slowing economy and rising debt.
Standard & Poor’s kept its own rating at BBB- but lowered the outlook to negative from stable, saying it believed economic growth might be lower than the 1.5 percent forecast by government.
The downgrade is expected to see government struggle to raise funding for critical infrastructure projects, including electricity utility Eskom’s build programme.