It was runway’s end for me – Fuzile
Former National Treasury director-general Lungisa Fuzile said it was after Pravin Gordhan and Mcebisi Jonas were axed from the finance portfolio that he realised he had “reached the end of the runway” in working for the government.
In an emotional conclusion to his testimony at the state capture inquiry on Monday‚ Fuzile described the events leading up to his resignation in April 2017 after nearly two decades at the Treasury.
Fuzile was on an investor roadshow in London in 2017 with Gordhan and Jonas when former president Jacob Zuma made the controversial decision to call them back to SA.
Zuma used a so-called intelligence report – which claimed Gordhan and his team were conspiring with foreign interests to undermine his administration – as a reason for cutting their trip short and later firing Gordhan and Jonas.
“It’s a routine thing‚ we do this minimum twice a year,” Fuzile said of the roadshow.
“We were told the approval to be on the roadshow had been rescinded and we should return forthwith.
“Gordhan explained we had to decide on the spot whether we sit on our hands in London the whole day.
“We decided we should meet the people‚ talk to the ratings agencies. We continued with the meetings on the day and then flew back to SA.”
Fuzile said he tendered his resignation shortly after Zuma’s cabinet reshuffle in March of that year.
“I felt there was no chance of making a positive difference.
“After all the changes [of ministers] I had encountered, I decided he [Gordhan] was going to be the last minister I serve under.
“It takes a lot to learn to work with each politician . . . when they change frequently‚ it was very hard to keep focus on the work‚” he said.
“Having been part of building it [Treasury] for 18 years‚ I couldn’t also be part of seeing it getting weak.”
Fuzile also told the inquiry on Monday that if Zuma’s proposed nuclear deal had gone through‚ the government would have breached the expenditure ceiling it set for itself.
The nuclear build programme plan would have seen SA purchasing 9‚600MW of extra nuclear power from the Russians at a cost of about R1-trillion.
He said the Treasury’s assumptions were based on 2% GDP growth a year – which SA has not accomplished.
Quoting Gordhan – finance minister when the deal was proposed – Fuzile said should anything go wrong it would make the arms deal “look like a Sunday school picnic”.