Anc Youth League Will Rise Again In Port Elizabeth

Less than two weeks after he hinted that
change was coming, President Cyril
Ramaphosa made sweeping changes to his
cabinet, including the return of Nhlanhla
Nene as the finance minister.
Other major changes to key economic
portfolios include the appointment of
Pravin Gordhan to the ministry of public
enterprises to replace Lynne Brown; the
appointment of ANC chairperson, Gwede
Mantashe to replace Mosebenzi Zwane at
mineral resources and the choice of Jeff
Radebe to replace David Mahlobo as the
minister of energy.
Zweli Mkhize, the former treasurer of the
ANC, and one of the names that had been
tipped as a possible finance minister will
replace Des van Rooyen as the minister of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional
Affairs
The overhaul did not however touch the
economic development, trade and industry
or small business portfolios – with
Ebrahim Patel, Rob Davies and Lindiwe
Zulu all remaining in their respective jobs.
Nene’s return to the finance ministry is
expected to be warmly welcomed by both
political and economic observers. Several
reshuffles in Zuma’s cabinet caused major
policy uncertainty, but none more so than
the changes made to the finance portfolio
– which saw the currency yo-yo and the
credit ratings downgrade ensue.
Nene was a well respected minister
following his appointment in 2014. He cut
his teeth in parliament’s standing
committee on finance, and served as a
deputy minister under Pravin Gordhan.
But in late 2015 he was unceremoniously
removed from the job by former president
Jacob Zuma and replaced by the then, little
known ANC backbencher Des van Rooyen.
The move tanked the rand and caused an
outcry among business leaders.
Zuma was forced to backtrack and replace
Van Rooyen with Gordhan just days after
ousting Nene.
At the time it was reported that Nene’s
exit was due to his attempts to prevent a
financial crisis at South African Airways,
during which he locked horns with its
former chairperson and Zuma ally, Dudu
Myeni. His apparent resistance