Speaking from London, Feinstein said he was working in the financial services sector for a South African bank.

"I will be based here in London but commuting regularly to South Africa," he said.

Feinstein left politics after an ongoing battle with his party, which he accused of handling the arms deal issue "extremely badly at every stage".

Feinstein said in an interview that he is working on a book relating to his time in politics, spanning the 1991 negotiating period until his departure from political life last year.

He is also working on a piece for the African Affairs journal on the undermining of the Public Accounts Committee and its implications for the legislative arm of government in South Africa.

Feinstein said he has remained involved in the land claim in his former constituency of Sea Point, and is assisting the claimants to raise money for the development of the land they got back.

Asked to comment on the probe into the rand, Feinstein said: "I am not quite clear what they are going to investigate, but I think the collapse of the currency is due to a range of factors.

"This includes what is happening in Zimbabwe, as well as developments in Argentina, which has created nervousness about emerging markets. It is also a consequence of the thinness of the rand market at the moment, as well as some negative domestic sentiment.

"The decision by the government to appeal the Constitutional Court decision on the provision of anti-retrovirals has been very badly received - and the unknown cost of the arms deal also hasn't helped."

Meanwhile, Gavin Woods, the chairman of Parliament's standing committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) left on Monday for Washington DC after being invited by the World Bank to deliver a presentation on the design and implementation of public financial management systems.

With acknowledgement to Sue Segar and News24.