To halt the decision to extradite Mozambique’s former Finance minister, Manuel Chang, could be a test case for President Ramaphosa’s long-term ability to bring about real change in South Africa’s regional relations by potentially making it a good example for the fight against corruption.

In 2013 Mozambican government officials formed three private companies and took out illegal secret loans totaling $2 billion. Donors suspended credit to Mozambique because of the loans as the national currency fell by 70% in 2016. Restructuring the illegal loans means imposed austerity on a population already living in extreme austerity and eventually repaying the creditors from revenues derived from Mozambique’s natural gas deposits that on the market in 2023.