Gordhan tells Hawks to get off his back

As business rallied to the defence of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan against ‘sinister forces’ that ranged against him (see reports below), Gordhan said he would not be reporting to the Hawks as summonsed, as the unit clearly had no case against him. He told the Hawks: ‘I have a job to do in a difficult economic environment and serve SA as best I can. Let me do my job.’ Business Day says Gordhan has resolved to come out fighting, despite the likely accusation by his detractors that by not reporting, he believes himself above the law. In a brief statement and a reply through his lawyers to the Hawks, Gordhan said that he had previously been assured by the head of the Hawks, Berning Ntlemeza, that he was not a suspect in the investigation. He said he had already provided the Hawks with comprehensive information on the matters the unit raised. He was adamant that the Hawks had told him in writing on 20 May ‘in no uncertain terms’ that he was not a suspect in its probe into the alleged rogue unit at the SARS, a unit established when he was commissioner. ‘I am advised that I am under no legal obligation to present myself to the Hawks as directed in their letter,’ Gordhan said. Together with his statement, Gordhan also released the letter he had received from the Hawks on Monday in which he is asked to present a warning statement as a precursor to being charged as a suspect. The one-and-a-half page letter provides what Business Day's report says seems to be the flimsiest reasons for the sudden step change by the Hawks. It refers to two charges: Gordhan’s decision to renew the contract of former SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay and allow him early retirement; and his role in establishing the covert unit at SARS. The letter says, in the first case, his actions amount to fruitless and wasteful expenditure under the Public Finance Management Act and, in the second, to contraventions of the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act and the National Strategic Intelligence Act.

Gordhan statement