INTERNATIONAL - African National Congress (ANC) treasurer general Paul Mashatile said new political leadership and the promise of "getting things right" was behind the South African rand strengthening against the dollar on Wednesday.
The currency breached the R12 to the dollar level for the first time since 2015, with analysts ascribing the improved market sentiment to the drive by the ANC government to restore South Africa's battered investment image which came about after several corruption scandals.
Mashatile, who is in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum (WEF) as part of the South African delegation, told the African News Agency (ANA) on Wednesday: "Since the election of the new leadership of the ANC, the mood has been very positive in the country, but that is clear even in the globe, because it seems there is confidence that the new leadership is going to change things.
"Our president has been talking tough on corruption, state capture, and really sorting out things, so I think that the expectation with this new leadership is that we are going to get things right, particularly around good governance, making sure that state enterprises are run properly, government departments, and all that," said Mashatile, who was elected to the party's top six leadership structure at the December conference of South Africa's ruling party
"I attribute the strong rand to that."
Looking at the increasing investor confidence, Mashatile added "in the coming weeks and months we probably want to see more investment coming to South Africa, and obviously the people are expecting to see more changes going forward".
Earlier, trade and industry minister Rob Davies told ANA on the sidelines of the WEF summit that there was optimism around the country's growth prospects, aided by a more stable political outlook after the ANC's December elective conference.