The rand has firmed against the dollar after president Jacob Zuma was ordered by the Consitutional Court of South Africa, to pay back a portion of the R246 million spent on upgrades to his Nkandla homestead.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s currency hit a near 4-month high against the dollar on Thursday as Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng laid down a judgement\u00a0saying that Zuma failed to respect the constitution when he ignored the instructions\u00a0of the Public Protector\u00a0to repay some of the money\u00a0spent on his private residence.<\/p>\n
The Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma – and the National Assembly – were in violation of the constitution, and ordered that the president pay back the money (an amount to be determined by Treasury).<\/p>\n
As the judgement was being read out, the rand strengthened to as low as R14.74 to the dollar, before settling at R14.79 by 12h30 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The rebound in the rand has brought the currency\u00a0in sight of\u00a0the levels it was at before Zuma sent it into a spin by firing former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene on 9 December 2015.<\/p>\n
At the time, the rand was trading at around R14.60 to the dollar. Zuma’s decision to fire Nene and replace him with the then-unknown Des van Rooyen sent the local currency to a record low of R17.99 to the dollar.<\/p>\n
The rand’s position has also been bouyed by a dip in the US currency, after US Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen\u2019s dovish comments on interest rates hikes sparked an emerging markets comeback.<\/p>\n
Rand breaks back through R15 to the dollar<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The rand after Nene and what it means for you<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n