Nene appointed to Allan Gray board - report

Cape Town - Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene has been appointed a non-executive director at Allan Gray.

A spokesperson at the company told Fin24 sister publication City Press that Nene was appointed at a board meeting on Monday morning.

“We are very happy to have someone of Mr Nene’s experience on our board, and we are grateful that he chose to accept the appointment. We are looking forward to his strategic and leadership contribution to the board,” said Ian Liddle, Allan Gray chairperson of the board, in a statement.

Nene was replaced as finance minister in December by the little-known Des van Rooyen, sending the markets and the rand into free fall. Pravin Gordhan was almost immediately parachuted in to bring calm to the country’s economic crisis.

In removing the respected minister from the crucial role, President Jacob Zuma said Nene was the preferred candidate to head the Africa Regional Centre of the new Brics Bank.

Nene has yet to hear from the Brics Bank, he told eNCA in an interview last week.

Asked whether he would take the post if formally offered to him, Nene said: “That will depend on the profile of the job.”

Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier welcomed Nene's appointment. "The former minister has been treated shockingly by President Jacob Zuma and the ANC. The suggestion that he would be appointed to a position in the Brics Bank now looks like a blatant lie."

"The former minister did his best to do the right thing and hold the fort at National Treasury. We wish him well in his new position and hope that it will not be too long before he returns to public life in South Africa."

Nene told Media24 last Monday that he is preoccupied with other matters at his home in KwaZulu-Natal and did not want to weigh in on the political battles that have rocked South Africa.

“Until I make my next move, I am enjoying intimate time with my family, and also doing my gardening,” he said when contacted telephonically.