Tony Yengeni calls for more outrage over ‘hundreds of rands’ Gordhan is making
African National Congress national executive committee member Tony Yengeni. Picture: ANA Photo
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In a tweet on Friday, ANC national executive committee (NEC) member Tony Yengeni expressed evident shock at alleged links between Grindrod Bank and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan.
He appeared to base his outrage on an online story from last year that attempted to cast aspersions on Gordhan for holding shares in Grindrod, which banks the billions that are paid out to SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) beneficiaries each month through Grindrod Bank.
Billionaire Johann Rupert’s company Remgro was reported to own shares of 23.1% in Grindrod. The anonymously written article on Uncensored Opinion, which is primarily associated with Pinky Khoabane, claimed there was a conspiracy in the mainstream media to protect Gordhan and Rupert from negative attention and close scrutiny.
This appeared to gain traction with Yengeni after another Twitter user shared a link to the old story on Friday.
Yengeni wrote: “Whaaattt..??? Pravin is a shareholder of Grinrod bank [sic] that is owned by Rupert and this bank has the account to bank the SASSA billions..! Wow..! If this is true it is first class corruption plain and simple and needs immediate investigation..Why no screaming headlines from media?”
Another Twitter user then attempted to provide a possible answer by pointing out that Gordhan’s declared shareholder interest in Remgro through his highly diversified investment portfolio was apparently so minuscule that Gordhan stood to make “a few hundred rands” at best out of whatever profits Grindrod was making from its Sassa deal.
Others on Twitter advised Yengeni to raise the matter with his fellow NEC member the next time they rubbed shoulders at a meeting.
Some Twitter users were keen to share concerns that Gordhan may have had a conflict of interest while being the minister of finance, even though potentially everything is a conflict of interest if you are in charge of economic planning for an entire country.
Gordhan is understood to have declared all his shareholder interests, which form part of his retirement portfolio.
The EFF is also running a campaign against Gordhan, who they accuse of being the behind-the-scenes power in running South Africa. They have fingered him as the cause of allegations against them that they claim aren’t true and merely cooked up to discredit the EFF on account of the fact that they are theoretically opposed to capitalism, especially that of the white-owned variety.
In a blog post this week, EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu accused Gordhan of running a “cabal” and “operating a parallel state apparatus”, which echoed numerous such allegations already aired by EFF leader Julius Malema.
Gordhan earlier this year responded to allegations that his ownership of shares in numerous companies would create conflict of interest, as he now oversees multibillion-rand state-owned companies such as Eskom, Denel, Transnet and others.
Gordhan has in the past been on the receiving end of public criticism from organisations such as Black First Land First, the EFF and even the ANC Youth League, who have accused him of being a stooge of white monopoly capital and a sellout when he was the country’s finance minister.
In an interview on SABC’s Frankly Speaking in March, Gordhan said he didn’t believe he was conflicted because he was not involved in the buying and selling of his shares. He said he had declared his investments and shares to parliament’s register of members’ interests.
“We must put this Bell Pottinger and ANN7 era behind us,” Gordhan said.
“Anybody who saves in South Africa in a pension fund, provident fund or through an investment account in a bank or financial institution will have those invested in bonds, property, cash or in shares, and those are openly disclosed to parliament,” he added.
According to the 2016 Register of Members’ Interest, Gordhan has shares in companies such as BHP Billiton, Naspers, Remgro and some of the big four banks. The investments are believed to be retirement savings invested in blind trusts to avoid conflict of interest.
In June, the ANC was criticised for appointing Yengeni to head up the crime and corruption committee at the party’s elections manifesto workshop.
Yengeni was himself found guilty of fraud and corruption in 2003 after failing to declare a discount he received for a Mercedes-Benz from an arms dealer. He was convicted to four years in prison, but only served four months.
He has previously also been arrested for drunken driving.
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