President Jacob Zuma must explain the bizarre recall of Pravin Gordhan

27 March 2017

The fact that President Jacob Zuma has instructed the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, together with the Deputy Minister of Finance, Mcebisi Jonas, to cancel their international investor roadshow and return to the country immediately is a major setback for the economy in South Africa.

The instruction to cancel the international investor roadshow without explanation is so bizarre that it appears, at best, calculated to humiliate the minister or, at worst, to suggest that the minister is about to be fired in a cabinet reshuffle.

Whatever the case the instruction to cancel the international investor roadshow could not have come at a worse time as the minister battles to restore investor confidence among international investors in one of the financial capitals of the world.

The fact is that President Jacob Zuma must provide a public explanation for the fact that he has instructed the Minister of Finance, together with the Deputy Minister of Finance, to cancel their international investor roadshow and immediately return to South Africa.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 27 March 2017