Nene was removed as finance minister last December & briefly replaced by Des Van Rooyen.

JOHANNESBURG - Former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene has been appointed as a non-executive director at investment management firm Allan Gray.

Nene was fired from his position as finance minister in December and resigned from Parliament shortly afterwards.

He was replaced by little-known Des Van Rooyen, until Pravin Gordhan was re-appointed to the post.

Allan Gray has released a statement, saying it has approved several new appointments including the appointment of Nene.

The company says it's happy to have someone with Nene's experience on board and it's looking forward to his strategic and leadership contribution.

Nene has extensive experience in the financial services and public sector.

He chose to accept this position, even though the Presidency recently confirmed that it had nominated him to head the Brics bank.

Nene was axed less than a week after he gave South African Airways (SAA) Chair Dudu Myeni a stern warning that should the SAA board go ahead with a deal without his approval, it would amount to financial misconduct.

It was alleged the business woman encouraged President Jacob Zuma to fire Nene after he disagreed with her over an Airbus deal.