GORDHAN DECLINES NPA OFFER

Reporter from Gupta-owned New Age given short shrift at briefing in Durban

FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan has stuck to his guns and refused to accept National Prosecuting Authority head Shaun Abrahams’s offer to make representations.

Gordhan’s lawyer Tebogo Malatji said yesterday they stood by their earlier position that they were not prepared to make representations to Abrahams.

This was after the NPA head this week asked Gordhan and former SA Revenue Service top officials Oupa Magashula and Ivan Pillay to make representations.

On Friday, Malatji said they had made several requests to Abrahams to review the charges against the minister, but he turned them down.

The finance minister would not accept the NPA’s offer to make representations.

Gordhan’s refusal to accept the offer comes as more ANC leaders and stalwarts have shown him their support.

Yesterday, the South African Council of Churches met with Abrahams on the nature of the charges against Gordhan.

SACC general-secretary Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana will today meet with fellow church leaders to brief them on what came out of the meeting with Abrahams.

The SACC is not the only organisation demanding answers from the NPA on the charges against Gordhan.

The Helen Suzman Foundation and Freedom Under Law have given the NPA head until Friday to respond to their letter. The two organisations are demanding answers regarding the charges against Gordhan.

They want Abrahams to give reasons for charging the minister or withdraw the charges against him.

A number of other people have questioned the nature of the charges.

Gordhan himself has said these were administrative issues and the matter could have been resolved internally.

Some of the organisations and ANC stalwarts said the issue of giving people early retirement was done daily in government and state entities, and it has never been an issue.

But Gordhan’s refusal to take up Abrahams’s offer meant the matter would go to court next month, where ANC stalwarts including Ahmed Kathrada, Laloo Chiba and Barbara Hogan have promised to come out in support of the minister.

Meanwhile, in Durban yesterday, Gordhan’s animosity towards the controversial Gupta family became even more apparent when he dismissed a reporter’s question about the probe into state capture.

During a brief media session, he was asked by a reporter from the Gupta-owned New Age newspaper how the NPA charges were affecting the economy.

As the reporter introduced himself, Gordhan said: “I can anticipate your question. If I answered that question, you wouldn’t get paid for your job.”

He added that he would not answer the question as it was a legal matter being handled by a legal process.

He did emphasise, however, that “anywhere in the world, what you require is an environment where you have the least amount of volatility and the most amount of stability”.

That, he said, “would need to be done in the best interest of the country’s citizens. It applies to us, it applies to the US, it applies to the Brexit, the EU, the Middle East, it applies to anywhere in the world. I can’t comment about myself; that’s part of a legal process.”