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.
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The rand tumbled three percent after the news first emerged and was 2.3 percent weaker at 13.89 against the dollar by 1746 GMT, its weakest in almost three weeks.
“I have a job to do in a hard economic environment and serve South Africa as best I can”.
Attard Montalto believes Zuma is keen on getting rid of Gordhan to put an end to Treasury investigations into several state-owned entities, most importantly, probes into the Passenger Rail Agency of SA (Prasa) and Eskom.
South African markets retreated Tuesday after Gordhan was given a “warning statement”, an official account issued to accused persons before they are charged with an offense and to warn them of their rights, reports Xola Potelwa for Bloomberg.
He said if Gordhan is arrested it will have a huge impact on the country’s economy, which is still recovering after Zuma fired two finance ministers last December, which led to market turmoil.
Gordhan is facing an investigation over a suspected surveillance unit set up years ago when he was in charge of the tax service.
A Zuma-backed plan to build a series of nuclear power plants, at a cost of as much as $60 billion, has caused tension with the Treasury for months and is likely adding to pressure on Gordhan’s position, analysts say.
“The most important factor is not public communications but the narrative Zuma spins within the ANC, NEC and the party structures that allows him to remove Gordhan”, Attard Montalto said. “Let me do my job”, said Gordhan.
A sovereign credit rating downgrade to junk status in December 2016 or even earlier is highly probable if minister of minance, Pravin Gordhan, suffers a similar or worse fate than his predecessor Nhlanhla Nene. The International Monetary Fund and South African Central Bank have a forecast growth of 0.6 percent for the year.
Former finance minister Trevor Manuel argued that this “will destroy the economy”, not literally of course, but you get the drift.
Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, Hawks spokesperson, said he was “shocked” over allegations of political bias at the Hawks.
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The rand reacted sharply after the news emerged, falling to 14.00 to the dollar, a 3.0 per cent drop.
