Pauw wrote ‘Stratcom’ report due to ‘close relationship’ with Gordhan – EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has released a statement lashing out at investigate journalist Jacques Pauw after his story in the Sunday Times accusing the public protector of multiple “blunders and missteps” in her recent report, which found Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan guilty of violating the constitution through his involvement in the so-called Sars “rogue unit”.

Pauw alleged that one of the main sources in the report was not a “specialist agent” who received paramilitary training to spy on politicians and taxpayers, but instead a law interpreter and later a debt collector at Sars who admitted to having no link to the intelligence unit at all.

He also described the source as an “unemployed, dope-smoking Rastafarian”.

The EFF has now responded in a strongly worded statement which labels Pauw a “discredited, conflicted individual”, labels his report “false, biased and evidently propagandistic”, and makes several allegations regarding the relationship between Pauw, Gordhan and the minister’s spokesperson, Adrian Lackay.

The statement accuses Pauw of having a “close relationship” with Gordhan and Lackay.

As evidence of this, the statement says Gordhan was the “main guest” at the launch of Pauw’s bestselling book on state capture and former president Jacob Zuma, The President’s Keepers.

READ MORE: Mkhwebane’s chief ‘rogue unit’ source says he knows nothing about it – report

It also makes the allegation that Gordhan wrote to City Press to stop them from exposing the “rogue unit” due to his relationship with Lackay, which the statement says included the spokesperson, who used to work at Sars, “illegally leaking taxpayers’ information” to Pauw.

The statement also attempts to rubbish Pauw’s claim that the report was not “damning” and was full of holes.

It aims to counter Pauw’s assertion that Keletso Manyike was the report’s main source.

“The Sunday Times deliberately misleads its readers, by stating that the source of the whole report is one individual who they, with contradictions, describe as weed smoking, and a Sars employee, the statement says.

It then lists other sources included in the report – Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane’s report on Sars, a KPMG report on Sars, correspondence between Sars and the public protector’s office and “official correspondence” with those implicated.

Multiple attempts have been made to contact both Pauw and Lackay, all of which have been ignored so far.

EFF Statement On Sunday Times’ STRATCOM Tactics Of Delegitimising The Public Protector Report On The Rogue Unit. pic.twitter.com/II1B8nOTHg

— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) July 14, 2019

(Compiled by Daniel Friedman)

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