Pravin kept ignoring me – Mkhwebane
In a letter clarifying her investigation into the minister, the public protector pulls rank and explains her powers.
Pravin Gordhan addresses media and demonstrators outside the National Treasury, Pravin was fired the night before as the Minister of Finance during a Cabinet reshuffle by President Jacob Zuma, 31 March 2017, Pretoria. Picture: Jacques Nelles
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has released a statement in which she “clarifies her investigation into the conduct of Minister Gordhan”.
In it, she explained why she subpoenaed the minister of public enterprise, claiming that he “failed to respond” to four different letters in which he was asked to address the allegations.
This is the latest in an ongoing verbal brawl between the pair. The Citizen reported earlier today that Gordhan’s lawyer Tebogo Malatji claims that, in a letter sent back in February, Mkhwebane admitted to having no evidence against the minister.
Malatji said in a statement: “In the said letter, [Mkhwebane] indicated that her office has no evidence implicating Gordhan in any wrongdoing,”
STATEMENT: Public Protector clarifies her investigation into the conduct of Minister Gordhan pic.twitter.com/SGgcsE6vDP
— Public Protector SA (@PublicProtector) November 12, 2018
While in her response Mkhwebane did not directly address claims that she had no evidence against Gordhan, she did pull rank in terms of her powers as public protector, explaining that she was empowered by law to conduct preliminary investigations “for the purpose of determining the merits of complaints,” and that she could conduct investigations based on accusations made in the media.
She added that she expected “full cooperation” from public officials, who she could examine or ask to submit an affidavit; that anyone who didn’t comply was guilty of an offence and coukd face a year of jail time or a fine of forty thousand rand; and that anyone requested to do so had to respond personally and not through a lawyer.
READ MORE: Mkhwebane has ‘no evidence’ against Gordhan
She also explained that her investigation had nothing to do with the commission of inquiry into state capture and that the fact that she had issued a subpoena close to when the minister was set to give testimony at the commission was just a coincidence.
The Citizen has reported that Mkhwebane was probing allegations of maladministration and dishonest and improper conduct against Gordhan following a complaint submitted in November 2016 related to the approval of former South African Revenue Service (Sars) deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay’s early retirement.
(Compiled by Daniel Friedman. Additional reporting by Sipho Mabena)
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