Nene appointed in the position Zuma used to oust him

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has been elected the chairperson of the board of governors of the New Development Bank. 

Nene, who was named finance minister by President Cyril Ramaphosa in February, was elected to the position at a meeting of the bank’s leadership taking place in Shanghai, China.

When Nene was axed from Cabinet during his first stint as finance minister by President Jacob Zuma in late 2015 in favour of David "Des" van Rooyen, the President said he would be joining the New Development Bank. 

But the appointment never materialised. 

At the meeting in Shanghai it was also announced that the board’s next annual meeting would take place in South Africa in 2019. 

The NDB is a bank that was jointly set up by the leaders of the BRICS counties Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It held its first meeting in 2015. 

At the meeting the bank approved loans to all five members countries totaling $1.6bn (R20.3bn). 

The South African loan of $200m (R2.5bn) is set to go towards the Durban Container Terminal Berth Reconstruction Project.

According to a NDB media statement, the project is aimed at helping Transnet enhance the capacity of its Durban port, through the rehabilitation of container terminal berths and the upgrading of port infrastructure to provide additional slots for larger vessels.