How Zuma has battered SA's credibility
'It’s obviously going to be interpreted very negatively by the markets unless we are able to explain in a compelling manner, which I think is difficult'
South African President Jacob Zuma’s order for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to cancel an investor roadshow in London and the U.S. left the nation’s credibility in tatters. The rand plunged more than any other major currency after Zuma, 74, told Gordhan to return home a day after he departed for the week of meetings. The Presidency gave no reason for calling off the trip, which the Treasury said had prior approval, and the ruling African National Congress said it hadn’t received prior notice of the decision. “It’s obviously going to be interpreted very negatively by the markets unless we are able to explain in a compelling manner, which I think is difficult by the way, why such a roadshow was cancelled,” Martin Kingston, chief executive officer in South Africa of NM Rothschild & Sons Ltd., said by phone from Johannesburg. Speculation that Gordhan is on the verge of being fired has swirled for months, as he clashed with Zuma over the management of state companies and the national t...
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