South Africa’s Currency Tumbles After Finance Minister Is Fired<br />By SEWELL CHANMARCH 31, 2017<br />LONDON — The abrupt firing of South Africa’s finance minister sent the country’s currency tumbling on Friday, deepening a split within the governing African National Congress<br />and raising new doubts about the tenure of President Jacob Zuma, who has been in office since 2009.<br />"It is important that the public knows what we do at the Treasury, how we serve South Africa, how the budgeting process works and how we make sure<br />that the poor in South Africa benefit from the taxes that we collect from all South Africans, as well." The firing Thursday night capped a week of tensions that began on Monday when Mr. Zuma ordered Mr. Gordhan to return abruptly from a trade and investment roadshow in Britain.<br />The South African Communist Party, part of the A.N.C.-led coalition<br />that governs the country, said that Mr. Zuma had cited an intelligence report speculating that Mr. Gordhan might be plotting to undermine the president.<br />Trieu Pham, a credit analyst at MUFG Securities in London, said there were important differences between this week’s dismissal of Mr. Gordhan<br />and the firing of Mr. Nene in 2015: Mr. Gordhan’s departure, if not the timing, had been expected; his replacement, unlike Mr. Nene’s, is a cabinet minister, albeit one with limited experience in finance; and the rand and stock prices have risen in recent months, allowing some room for maneuver.<br />Gordhan said that We hope more and more South Africans will make it absolutely clear that our country is not for sale,
