The South African community has spoken out about their displeasure regarding President Jacob Zuma’s appointment of David van Rooyen as Minister of Finance.
Van Rooyen was sworn into his position on 10 December by President Zuma.
Former Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene was appointed on 25 May 2014 and was removed and deployed by President Zuma on 9 December.
This ‘redeployment’ sent shock waves through South African households.
The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SACCI) said in their press release it, “ notes with concern President Zuma’s removal of Finance Minister, Nene.
”Nene had begun to find his feet after 18 months in the post and brought with him a number of years’ experience as Deputy Finance Minister.”
They added, “We are looking forward to the President sharing the motivation for this decision with the business community as a matter of priority.”
South Africans have expressed their distaste of the appointment on social media like Twitter and Facebook. The hashtag, #ZumaMustFall has been trending since the appointment of Van Rooyen.
Also to note the response from South African has focused more on the decision made by President Zuma’s than of Van Rooyen himself.
Wise words for SA today: Dr Seuss "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better it's not" #ZumaMustFall
— Kaylie Henderson (@HKayles) December 10, 2015
https://twitter.com/Barry_Roux/status/674801709525409794
https://twitter.com/TerriStander/status/674681805761548288
being an optimistic South African nothing could get me down but GEEZ our currency plummeting thanks Zuma #ZumaMustFall #RandIsFalling
— Andrew Wait (@andywait1980) December 9, 2015
https://twitter.com/Barry_Roux/status/675168729194434560
The Facebook community has joined in on the debate with pages such as #ZumaMustFall, Zuma is not my president. An interesting page is that of #ZumaMustFallMarch, this page is centred around marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on 16 December.
What are your thoughts on the sudden redeployment of Nhlanhla Nene?
Do you think the appointment of David van Rooyen has ulterior motives?