Zuma, who is traveling overseas, said in a statement by the presidency that the Hawks were independent and that he could not interfere in its investigations.
Advertisement
Gordhan is facing an investigation over a suspected surveillance unit set up years ago when he was in charge of the tax service.
The rand, which had tumbled 5 percent since Tuesday in response to the investigation, extended gains to 1.3 percent after Zuma’s statement after starting a recovery on Thursday.
Gordhan has served twice as finance minister.
“The Presidency wishes to emphasize that President Zuma does not have powers to stop any investigations into any individual”, a statement from Zuma’s office said, adding he still had full confidence in him. “It’s something that should concern us”, Ramaphosa said at a funeral service of a former cabinet minister in the Eastern Cape province where Gordhan was in attendance.
“As the ANC Youth League, we call on all those who are involved in this investigation to reduce public spats and engage in a manner that any other citizen would have been treated and responded”, Mkhize said.
Analysts claim tensions between the two started after Gordhan opposed Zuma’s plan to invest $60 billion in the construction of several nuclear power stations.
“I believe this attack on Gordhan is politically motivated because he is in dire opposition to President Zuma”, Andre Duvenhage, politics professor at Northwest University told Anadolu Agency.
On Thursday, the presidency defended plans to give Zuma supervision over state-owned firms after Gordhan’s allies said this would limit the finance minister’s control.
Analysts also questioned the extent of Zuma’s stated support for his finance minister.
Mulaudzi has vehemently denied that the Hawks were being used in a political struggle. He said he should be left to do his job in a hard economic environment.
The main opposition party Democratic Alliance, which strengthened its credentials by taking control of key cities in the August 3 local government elections, has called for a parliamentary debate on what it called a “Zuma-mandated witch-hunt against sitting Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan”.
Advertisement
The Hawks wants Gordhan to be prosecuted for “espionage” in a case related to the activities of the SARS “rogue unit” established while he was the tax agency’s commissioner between 1999 and 2009.
