Gordhan and the revenge of the Hawks
THE inevitable fallout from Thuli Madonsela’s “State of Capture Report” and Shaun Abrahams’ spectacular volte-face in withdrawing the spurious fraud and theft charges against Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan (the two events are not unrelated) has already begun.
In what could well be called “the Revenge of the Hawks”, the City Press reported that Pravin Gordhan and Ivan Pillay will be served with “Christmas gifts” – charges pertaining to the Sars socalled rogue unit – before the end of this year: “The charges laid against them will include fraud, defeating the ends of justice and contravention of the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Act”.
Apparently, “this time, a determined Hawks and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) team want to make sure they have a strong case against him and his co-accused”.
Shaun Abrahams assured Parliament’s justice portfolio committee that this time “we will make sure we do not make the same mistakes here”.
To this end, “the NPA has allocated four prosecutors – all from the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit, which Abrahams used to head – to lead the investigation team”, the first time that so many prosecutors were assigned to one case.
Regardless of the number of prosecutors, the NPA may already be treading on thin ice on the so called “rogue-unit” case. Part of the “evidence” is a draft KPMG report (costing R23 million), controversially leaked to The Sunday Times, but the investigators did not consider it prudent to question Gordhan.
One of the organisations that was being investigated by the Sars unit was British American Tobaco (BAT). However, “BAT is one of KPMG’s clients and the company also formerly did auditing for the Guptas. KPMG failed to disclose its link to BAT, which has aroused suspicion that the report may be compromised”.
A further indictment against KPMG was that “large chunks of a 30 November 2015 letter written on behalf of Sars attorneys Mashiane Moodley and Monama to KPMG, found its way, verbatim, into a draft of the KPMG report. In essence KPMG, an independent and outside investigator, had taken instructions from its client about what the final findings should be. KMPG have consistently maintained that they are unable to comment on this apparently serious breach”.
Sadly, the esteemed Sunday Times was implicated for unethical reporting on the “rogue unit”. Press ombudsman Johan Retief criticised The Sunday Times for its “inaccurate, misleading and unfair” reporting, and ordered that all (30) stories about the Sars “rogue-unit” be withdrawn. In a damning affidavit, former Sunday Times journalist Pearlie Joubert revealed that the “original source for the paper’s stories had been Advocate Rudolf Mastenbroek (who also worked with the KMPG team, and had access to the report), a former Sars official and ex-husband of the Sunday Times editor, Phylicia Oppelt”. Joubert contended that the publication of false stories appeared to be “an orchestrated effort by persons to advance untested allegations in a public arena”.
Marianne Thamm’s Daily Maverick (April 3, 2016) article, “House of Cards: What does the Sunday Times Sars apology mean for the rest of the pack?”, provides a fascinating analysis about what can only be called a comedy of errors at Sars.
Veteran journalist Max du Preez had argued that that the fabricated information about the Sars entity had been intentionally leaked as a strategy “to discredit and undermine several state agencies that tried to investigate Zuma and some of his wealthy friends and to replace their leadership structures with Zuma loyalists”. It is alleged that Zuma’s son Edward, and nephew, Khulubuse, have links with the tobacco industry, and some of these companies were being investigated by the Sars unit for tax evasion.
Non-compliance
Gordhan acknowledged that the Sars unit was created to “investigate non-compliance with tax legislation” which could “include non-submission of a tax return, incorrect information on a tax return, different types of debt collection, aggressive tax avoidance, abuse of trusts, tax evasion, smuggling across borders, cigarette and other forms of illicit trade, trafficking of drugs, round-tripping to avoid excise duties and VAT etc… The unit was an essential part of Sars’ enforcement strategy as it is with most tax and customs administrations globally.”
Gordhan’s cardinal crime is that he has not allowed the Treasury or himself to be ‘captured’ or even ‘kidnapped’ (although the latter can still be a possibility, given the dark forces operating!). However, as Madonsela’s “State of Capture Report” suggests, many ministers and senior government bureaucrats have already been captured and do the bidding of their masters, who continue to ruin SA.
President Zuma wants Parliament to be moved from Cape Town to Pretoria. However, the alleged comings and goings of government ministers and senior bureaucrats, and cellphone hotlines listed in the Capture report, suggest that Parliament has already moved to the compound in Saxonworld. Certainly, senior government appointment and investment decisions are made in consultation with, and with the approval of, the occupants of the compound.
It is important to note that many of the issues raised in the “State of Capture Report” – including Eskom, Tegeta and Brian Molefe; the SABC and The New Age, Minister Van Rooyen and the Guptas, Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas and the R600m offer – have been investigated and reported in the media for several years, especially The Mail and Guardian, City Press and The Sunday Times.
The ANC government refused to take any action, preferring to blame the messengers for the message.
A public statement signed by 101 ANC veterans expressed dismay at the “levels of corruption and the flagrant undermining of our beloved constitution and the rule of law… It is very apparent that the blatant looting of public assets is being openly facilitated by deliberate state capture. Sadly, at the centre of much of this disgraceful behaviour sits our president and some very dodgy people he has surrounded himself with. Our president and those around him have successfully marginalised anyone with decency and who acts in defence of the values of the ANC”.
Zuma’s former staunch devotee, Dr Mathole Motshekga, argued that this “situation is untenable… The ANC leadership must convene an urgent NEC meeting and ask the president to do the honourable thing and assist him in whatever way possible to endure the situation.”
Zuma’s response to such calls has been arrogant and belligerent (especially for someone who may have to face 783 charges), and demonstrated no hint of remorse: “Even if I am arrested today, I am used to it. I was in jail for 10 years, so you cannot scare me… There’s no longer any space for democratic debate. The only space there is for court arguments by lawyers. That’s not democracy.” But who has reduced the space for democratic debate and dissent, and who is resorting to the courts?
One would expect that President Jacob Zuma would have spent the night after the release of the “State Capture Report” drafting his resignation speech to the nation – a dignified exit option.
However, the next morning he was jetting off to Zimbabwe to meet with Uncle Bob. Cynics may well argue that that he was meeting with Robert Mugabe for advice on how to entrench his hold on power.
Robert Mugabe’s advice to Jacob Zuma could well have been that he must get rid of the pesky free press and independent judiciary, and then he could ensconce himself as President for Life.