Minister upbeat about investor trip
FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan has once again hit back at the Hawks, accusing them of leaking questions about their investigation into the establishment and operations of a rogue intelligence unit at the SA Revenue Services.
A clearly irritated Gordhan also reminded the nation that SARS commissioner Tom Moyane was not a minister but reported to him. Gordhan yesterday briefed the media about his roadshow last week to the US and UK to reassure investors and rating agencies that South Africa was still the place to invest in. He was accompanied by leaders from labour and business.
The trip was part of efforts to prevent the country’s credit rating from being downgraded to junk status, which would make it expensive to repay money borrowed. The bitter battle between Gordhan and Hawks boss Berning Ntlemeza over the alleged rogue unit set up by the minister when he was SARS commissioner came up. This was after weekend reports that Gordhan had until 4pm yesterday to answer the 27 questions sent to him on March 3.
Yesterday, Gordhan sought to downplay his fights with Moyane and Ntlemeza, and rather provided a report on his roadshow during which he said investors believed the country was capable of turning the corner on its economy.
“Moyane is not a minister. He is an equivalent of a head of administration. There is no equality between one and the other. Secondly, the president [Jacob Zuma] said he [has] got a process dealing with this matter, so let’s give him a bit of time,” he said.
Gordhan appeared not worried about meeting Ntlemeza’s ultimatum to answer questions by yesterday.
“Why do you have to leak these things? Don’t you want to talk about them, have a press conference and put all the facts on the table and talk about it,” Gordhan said.
He said they met 250 investors who raised concerns with the current economic conditions in the country. Zuma’s sacking of former Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene featured high on the list of questions that were asked by investors, together with the violent nature of labour strikes and the long time they took.
They also raised concerns about lack of clarity on some aspects of economic policy and the slow economic growth.
“Our main message to the investors was that as a resilient nation, South Africa has the potential to overcome challenges,” he said.
“Moyane is not a minister. He is an equivalent of a head of admin