Ramaphosa must stop acting like Zuma – Malema

At a press conference at the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) headquarters in Braamfontein on Tuesday, party leader Julius Malema called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to “discipline” Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan as per the remedial actions called for by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

This came after Mkhwabane finding in a report that Gordhan irregularly granted early retirement to former Sars deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay, with Malema adding that Pillay was “awarded a pension at taxpayer’s expense”.

These remedial actions are “binding”, Malema said and “Pravin Gordhan’s mere application for review is not sufficient grounds” for the president not to act on them.

“A review application does not set aside” such remedial actions, this can only be done “in a court of law”, Malema continued.

Malema then accused the president of acting like his predecessor, Jacob Zuma.

“Ramaphosa is continuing to treat Pravin Gordhan as a god that is not subject to the law like all of us. Above all, like Zuma, he is not protecting the constitution by complying with the remedial action of the public protector,” he said.

“It does not matter how we all feel about the incumbent, we can all criticise her,” said Malema, “But her office must be protected and respected.

“No one can say they uphold the rule of law and the constitution, but ignore the office of the public protector and its remedial action,” he added.

Malema also accuses Ramaphosa of acting on the recommendation of commissions, as he did when it came to the matter of advocates Nomgcobo Jiba and Lawrence Mrwebi, but failing to act when told to do so by the public protector, who heads a chapter 9 institution.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday he had complied with the public protector’s recommendations regarding Gordhan, his spokesperson said on Monday.

Khusela Diko, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, said on Monday that the president submitted a written response to Mkhwebane on June 19 wherein he set out his compliance with the recommendations.

“The public protector had directed the president to take note of the findings in the report insofar as they relate to Minister Gordhan and to take appropriate disciplinary action against the minister. No deadline was given by when such ‘appropriate disciplinary action’ should be taken. The public protector had also directed the president to submit, within 30 days, an implementation plan indicating how the president would implement the recommended remedial action,” said Diko.

(Background reporting, ANA)

For more news your way, download The Citizen’s app for iOS and Android.