Mkhwebane shuts down EFF complaint into Gordhan’s meeting with Mogoeng

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has cleared Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan of allegations that he had attempted to influence the appointment of his friend, KwaZulu-Natal Judge Dhaya Pillay, to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

This follows a complaint lodged by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP and deputy president Floyd Shivambu, against Gordhan for the alleged breach of the Executive Ethics Code.

Shivambu approached the Office of the Public Protector in April last year, after retired Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng told the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) that Gordhan, in April 2016, held a meeting with him in Cape Town.

Mogoeng said Gordhan called the meeting to enquire about the performance of Pillay at an earlier round of JSC interviews for judges to be appointed to the SCA.

Pillay was among the candidates vying to be appointed to the superior court in Bloemfontein.

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Investigation closed

During a media briefing on Wednesday in Pretoria, Mkhwebane said her office had to close down the investigation into Shivambu’s complaint after his allegations could not be corroborated.

Mkhwebane said the investigation revealed that when Gordhan and Mogoeng met at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, on 6 April 2016, the spokesperson for the JSC had already announced the interview results.

She said it was already public knowledge at the time that Judge Pillay was unsuccessful in the interviews.

“It would therefore be factually or legally impossible for Mr Gordhan to have influenced the outcome of an interview that had already been concluded,” Mkhwebane said.

“Accordingly, Mr Gordhan’s conduct could not be regarded as having been in breach of paragraphs 2.1(c) and (d) and 2.3(b) of the Executive Ethics Code.”

READ MORE: Gordhan clarifies meeting request with Mogoeng

Enquiry ‘purely incidental’

Last year, Gordhan sought to clarify the remarks made by Mogoeng about their 2016 meeting.

The minister – who was the minister of finance at the time of the meeting – denied he had attempted to influence the former chief justice or the JSC in the appointment of judges.

Gordhan said he had only ever engaged with Mogoeng in his official and professional capacity on several occasions.

He did, however, admit that he referred to Pillay’s interview with the JSC, but only “in passing”, adding that his enquiry about Pillay was “purely incidental”.

“I want to state emphatically that I would never, nor did I in any way, seek to influence the chief justice or the JSC in the appointment of judges, whose independence I have always respected,” Gordhan said at the time.

Meanwhile, Shivambu last year laid a criminal complaint of corruption against Gordhan at Hillbrow police station in Johannesburg over the allegations.

At the time, he said the EFF believed that Gordhan violated Section 3 of the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act, which prohibits state officials from abusing their authority.

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