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Pretoria - The South African Reserve Bank will not respond to short term volatility triggered by news of possible charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, Deputy Governor Daniel Mminele said on Monday.
The rand, bonds and stocks have weakened since last week when it emerged that police had summoned Gordhan to answer questions over a surveillance unit set up in the revenue service when he was in charge.
The Hawks ordered Gordhan and others to report to them in Pretoria on Thursday in relation to an alleged "rogue" unit located within the SA Revenue Service (Sars), during the time that Gordhan was Sars commissioner. Gordhan refused.
The rand reached its weakest in more than six weeks against the dollar on Monday as the greenback rose on expectations that US interest rates would rise soon.
By 15:22 GMT, the rand was down 0.13% against the dollar to 14.3875, off Friday's close at 14.3690.
Traders said the rand was weighed down by lingering uncertainty over whether Gordhan faces arrest.
"The dollar is quite strong on global markets so that's not helping the rand's cause at all," said Bidvest Bank chief dealer, Ion de Vleeschauwer.
"The predominant factor remains the political shambles with our finance minister and the Hawks. As long as that is around, the rand has very little potential to strengthen."
