Politics is interfering with SA’s economic reform, says US ambassador
SA’s leaders need to move past the politics, which are interfering with economic reform, US ambassador to SA Patrick Gaspard said on Wednesday.This follows the announcement by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) that Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and two other former South African Revenue Service officials, Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashule, will be prosecuted for fraud and have been summonsed to appear in court on November 2.The rand weakened by 4% on the news, which also wiped nearly R50bn off the JSE’s banking index on Tuesday.Gordhan has said it is clear the legal process has been "contaminated by abuse for political ends".Gaspard said SA was critical, not only as a nation state but because of the impact it had on sub-Saharan Africa, and on foreign direct investment and the environment needed for regional trade facilitation."I really hope that South Africans will continue to protect their vital institutions and that South African leaders will get past some of the challenging...
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