South Africa reiterated on Tuesday it would not intervene in the forex market to influence the rand?s exchange rate, which will continue to be determined by market forces.

?The only thing that we are doing in relation to our currency is just to stock up our reserves,? Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka told Reuters in an interview in London.

?We are not going to do anything about it because we don't think it is in our control really. I think our quest for a stable currency is just the kind of quest you find in every economy.?

The rand has weakened 7.92 percent against the dollar since May 11, when the rout on emerging markets started, wiping off its gains versus the US unit so far this year. It was trading just over a cent softer at 6.5375 a dollar on Tuesday.

But even in the wake of a modest depreciation last year it remains far off the historic low of 13.85 a dolllar it hit in late 2001.

Mlambo-Ngcuka said South Africa can take comfort from the fact that a strong rand has served it very well in an era of high oil prices. But a weaker rand is a welcome relief for South African exporters who get paid in dollars and have been complaining about the effects of the robust rand.

Asked at what point President Thabo Mbeki?s government could feel obliged to intervene to shore up the rand, Mlambo-Ngcuka said: ?We?ve just decided that we?re just going to allow the market to determine (the exchange rate).?

Earlier this month Mbeki's International Investment Advisory Council said South Africa must aim to deliver growth rates well above its target of 6 percent by 2010 if it were to deal with unemployment officially put at 26.7 percent.

John CHIAHEMEN