Any sudden policy shifts by South Africa’s new leaders would be “suicidal” for a country whose economy survives at the mercy of foreign investors, according to one of the architects of the recent years of stability.

The warning from Jabu Moleketi, among the most influential economic policymakers until he resigned as deputy finance minister two weeks ago in protest at the ousting of Thabo Mbeki as president, underscores the extent to which the pandemonium in global markets has raised the stakes in the struggle for control in Africa’s biggest economy.