FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan has pushed back against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after it had served him with a summons to appear in court on fraud charges.
A defiant Gordhan on Tuesday accused National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) Shaun Abrahams of being disingenuous in his handling of the matter and said the charges against him were politically motivated.
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Earlier Abrahams announced that Gordhan and former South African Revenue Service officials Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashule would face fraud charges and had been summoned to appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on November 2.
The charges were in relation to Pillay’s R1.1m retirement payout which was alleged to be fraudulent.
After the announcement the rand dropped sharply by 4% to a monthly weakest level of R14.3676/$ at the JSE’s close, before recovering somewhat.
The weaker rand lifted rand hedges and miners on the JSE for the all share to close 0.43% higher at 51,898.80. The banking index was 3.58% lower.
Bond yields rose sharply as foreigners sold local bonds, with the R186 bid at 8.935% after the JSE’s close from 8.685%. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
The decision to charge Gordhan had also wiped nearly R50bn off the JSE’s banking index on Tuesday. The banking index fell as much as 5.2%.
Gordhan said it was clear that the legal process had been "contaminated by abuse for political ends" and South Africans needed to ask whose interests the Hawks, NPA and Abrahams were advancing.
"Where do they get their political instructions from and for what purpose?"
Gordhan and his lawyer Tebogo Malatji accused Abrahams of not acting in good faith, after numerous engagements between the two since May 18 2016.
"We had repeatedly requested that the [prosecutions chief] afford minister Gordhan the opportunity to make written and/or oral representations before making a decision on whether to prosecute or not," Malatji said.
Abrahams, in a letter dated August 25, indicated that he would consider the request once the investigation was concluded and a docket submitted to the NPA, Malatji said.
They had received a letter, dated October 4 2016 only on Tuesday advising Gordhan that he was an accused person, Malatji said.
Gordhan arrived back in the country on Monday afternoon from New York and Washington DC, where he had led a delegation in an attempt to prevent a sovereign credit downgrade for the country later in 2016.
Despite the charges of fraud hanging over his head and speculation that a Cabinet reshuffle was on the cards, Gordhan on Tuesday said he intended to continue doing his job.
"The cause of defending ethical leadership in government and throughout society is too important to allow ourselves to be deterred by this kind of harassment," he said.
Support for Gordhan has poured in from various quarters — business, civil society and even some of his colleagues in the government, such as ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu — with some urging that he should not be removed as minister, as this could have a devastating effect on the economy.
Organised business in particular argues that Gordhan should be left to do his job, as there is no valid reason to remove him.
ANC spokesman Zizi Kodwa said the ruling party would meet to discuss Gordhan’s status as minister considering the fact that he was facing fraud charges. It was not clear when this meeting would take place.
Executive secretary of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution, Lawson Naidoo, said removing Gordhan or him stepping down would have a negative effect on the economy.
"The difficulty here is that one can’t just look at the facts and say he is being charged and therefore should step aside. One’s got to look at the context of these charges and the whole saga behind it."
Naidoo said there were pointers to a level of political interference in the process and political manipulation.
With Maarten Mittner and Robert Laing
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