On 9 December 2015, President Jacob Zuma issued a statement replacing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene with the little-known Des van Rooyen. It was widely suspected that Nene was replaced for reasons all related to him vetoing suspect and/or controversial uses of public funds including the vetoing of South African Airways (SAA) chairperson Dudu Myeni's attempt to purchase 5 Airbus A330s through an unnamed third party, not approving a proposed SAA direct flight route between Sudan and South Africa, Nene's resistance to approving funding for a nuclear deal with Russia, not approving the purchase of a new R4 billion Boeing 787 presidential plane, and the downgrading of South Africa's credit rating to just above 'junk' status by international rating agencies.