Gordhan clashes with Brown over state capture accused
FORMER finance minister Pravin Gordhan has challenged Public Enterprises Minister Lynne Brown’s belief that those implicated in state capture are innocent until proven guilty.
“In a context where we have state capture pervading SOEs [state-owned enterprises]‚ other institutions and law enforcement agencies as well by implication, how are we going to get to a position where those who are truly guilty of things are actually going to be charged so that we can actually say innocent until proven guilty?” Gordhan questioned.
Brown addressed parliament’s portfolio committee on public enterprises yesterday.
She said the Special Investigations Unit had agreed on the terms of reference for an investigation into Eskom governance and procurement and to expedite the McKinsey-Trillian aspect of the investigation.
She said, however, the investigation would be too slow for those “baying for the immediate shedding of heads” on the basis of the leaked Gupta e-mails.
“The last time I looked‚ people were still entitled to be regarded as innocent until proven guilty or otherwise.” Brown said she had not read any of the Gupta e-mails apart from what had been reported on in the media.
Gordhan said the department’s director-general‚ Mogokare Seleke‚ who was present in parliament‚ had been implicated in the Gupta e-mails.
“Has that been investigated? Is it going to be investigated? When can we expect the results of any investigation in that regard as well?” he asked.
ANC MP Mondli Gungubele said the increase in fruitless and wasteful expenditure by state-owned enterprises showed everything was moving in the wrong direction.
Brown said a declaration of interests was now required biannually by SOE board members instead of annually and that board members would be rotated annually instead of every three years. “When I appoint boards‚ I hope that they are truly independent,” she said.
“I can go as far as determining which companies people are in‚ whether they have qualifications‚ whether they have criminal records.
“I will never be able to test who their friends are. There is the human element that I am not able to change within these boards.”