When a darling of international bankers is replaced as finance minister by a former communist it does not usually get a thumbs-up from the markets. Yet the new South African cabinet unveiled by Jacob Zuma at the weekend seems both to have calmed business fears he might lurch to the left, and inspired hope that ministers – including the finance minister Pravin Gordhan – will raise performance.

Mr Gordhan, formerly commissioner for tax revenue, replaces Trevor Manuel, who in 13 years as finance minister became a linchpin of post-apartheid governments, seen as a guarantor of fiscal orthodoxy that gave lustre to South Africa’s credit in the markets.