Hawks are fighting a proxy war

THE BATTLE lines are drawn, and the lines are very clear. On the surface it would seem like it’s a battle between Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation – the Hawks.

In my opinion, the Hawks are fighting a proxy war. They have been unleashed on Gordhan to discredit him to prove that he is not the best person for the finance minister job.

Gordhan was reappointed under duress, reluctantly, by President Jacob Zuma in December, after Zuma was convinced, against his will, that he and the Guptas’ choice, Des van Rooyen, was not suitable for the position of finance minister.

We know how devastating the replacement of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with Van Rooyen was to our economy.

We are still reeling under the damage caused to our economy. The reluctant appointment of Gordhan brought some stability and relief, especially for the battered exchange rate of the rand and financial markets.

But the problem with Gordhan for the tenderpreneurs and the captured state entities (Eskom, Sars, SAA) is that Gordhan has declared that the best interest of our country is uppermost in his heart and mind, and that he will only act accordingly.

We must remember that business deals had already been lined up in these captured entities to benefit the politically connected and untouchable elite.

All this needs is a finance minister who will comply with the orders of the untouchable tenderpreneurs. There are strong voices in the tenderpreneur camp who do not care about the state of our economy, market sell-offs or downgrades.

These are people who may see downgrades as a parasitic opportunity for auction-sale purchases of assets. In my opinion these are the people pushing for more and more pressure to be brought on Gordhan.

Remember how Zuma insisted, on February 22, just two days before Gordhan was due to deliver his budget speech, that Van Rooyen was qualified to be finance minister.

We also now know that at this time Gordhan also received the letter containing 27 questions from the Hawks.

In the meantime, the Gordhan/Hawks battle is escalating.

At a time when Gordhan is trying his utmost to convince investors to remain in our country, and ratings agencies not to downgrade us to junk status, the Hawks are intensifying their demands on Gordhan, in public.

Through all this our president says or does absolutely nothing to calm the storm.

This is much more than just a simple battle between the Hawks and Gordhan about 27 questions.

This is essentially a battle of our government at war with itself.

And any concerned citizen would rightly expect the president of our country to step in to calm matters down, for this matter to be conducted in private, in a professional manner.

But our president chooses to remain silent and anonymous in this matter. Or is he really?

Could it be that the president wants to prove that the damage to our economy in December had nothing to do with his firing of Nene, and being replaced by Van Rooyen?

That our president wants to prove that Gordhan is not as good for our economy as we think.

That Gordhan should be fired to make way for a more compliant finance minister.

So that the way can be cleared for the tenderpreneurs and captured state entities to continue their looting by removing the biggest obstacle in their destructive path: Gordhan.