South Africa to Name New Deputy Finance Minister, Times Says

By Nasreen Seria

Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- South African President Kgalema Motlanthe will likely appoint Enoch Godongwana, a former minister in Eastern Cape province, as the country's deputy finance minister, the Sunday Times reported, citing unidentified officials of the ruling African National Congress.

Godongwana will replace Jabu Moleketi, who resigned following the ouster of former president Thabo Mbeki last month, the Johannesburg-based newspaper said.

Godongwana, who studied economics at the University of London, was provincial finance minister from 1998 until 2004, when he was fired by former Eastern Cape premier Nosimo Balindlela, the Times said. A report commissioned by Balindlela implicated Godongwana and other provincial leaders in alleged corruption, a claim they disputed, the newspaper said.

Appointed to the ANC's decision-making body, the National Executive Committee in December, Godongwana now chairs the party's sub-committee on labor, the newspaper said. Until December, Godongwana was chief executive of the Financial Sector Charter Council and served on the Policy Board for Financial Services and Regulation, the Times said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Nasreen Seria in Johannesburg at nseria@bloomberg.net