Pravin Gordhan has been fired, and South Africa’s not amused

Pravin Gordhan
G-24 Chairman and South African Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan convenes the Group of 24 Minister's meeting at the IMF's Headquarters October 7, 2010 in Washington, DC. Finance Ministers and Bank Governors around the world will be attending the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings this weekend in Washington, DC. IMF Staff Photo/Michael Spilotro

Pravin Gordhan is no longer the finance minister of South Africa.

After a late night meeting with the ANC’s top five in Pretoria, President Jacob Zuma has axed the country’s finance minister, and will reportedly rid another eight of their posts in a widespread cabinet reshuffle.

The news broke in the late hours of Thursday in South Africa, which sent the Rand tumbling to its lowest value against the Dollar in weeks. It also sent South Africans on social media into a frenzy, with a bevy of Twitter hashtags related to the incident trending within the country.

This all seems eerily similar to December 2015.

Some on the network noted the awkward timing of the announcement.

Others questioned Zuma’s motives for firing Pravin Gordhan.

Some just couldn’t help but use a Game of Thrones meme to explain their views.

Humour aside though, the general tone of the tweets across the network is that of disappointment and disbelief.

Users are also watching the value of the Rand too (and expecting the very worst), currently sitting at R13.37/US$.

And as for Pravin Gordhan? Twitter users laced the social network with mini-thank yous for the minister.

The Presidency is set to hold a press conference tonight detailing the names of the axed ministers and their likely replacements.

This is a developing story and will be updated as we receive new information…

Feature image: International Monetary Fund via Flickr

Andy Walker, former editor
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