Malema pledges support to Pravin

ECONOMIC Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema yesterday again came out in support of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, who tabled the 2016 Medium-term Budget Policy Statement in Parliament.

Malema said Gordhan would enjoy the party’s political support on the day of his court case.

“We came to say to the minister he is not alone. We can see political persecution. We know how those who abuse state institutions operate. Therefore the whole world must know that we don’t have any doubt that our minister did not do anything wrong.”

Malema also said the standing ovation for Gordhan by ANC MPs was in vain as the party would be plotting against him at night.

“They are pretentious. At night they are going to be plotting against him. At night they are going to be identifying items in that Budget they will be stealing from. “But Zuma’s days are numbered.” Meanwhile the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) said it welcomed the 2016 mediumterm Budget policy statement and hoped Gordhan survived in his post to implement the Budget proposals.

“While the ACDP broadly supports today’s statement, we trust that Gordhan remains resolute and survives politically to implement his proposals.

This may just be sufficient to avoid a sovereign ratings downgrade later this year, and set us on the path to economic recovery,” ACDP MP Steve Swart said.

Swart said the ACDP would lobby for “unaffordable budget items,” including the nuclear build programme, to be shelved until the country could afford it.

He pointed out that state-owned enterprises posed some of the biggest risks to the fiscus and warned several reforms being proposed by Gordhan could be met with resistance.

“The ratings agencies will be watching this closely, yet Gordhan’s attempts to reform the enterprises have met with considerable political opposition, such as in the case of the South African Airways.”