Shaun’s yo-yo game a no-no
I DON’T know Shaun Abrahams very well, but the boss of the National Prosecuting Authority strikes me as a playful character.
However, sadly for him, I am tempted to think he grew up in a home with no toys. Or, if his parents did buy him toys, he detested the kind of toys that were foisted upon him.
As a result, he grew up nursing one ambition: “When I grow up I’m going to spoil myself with all manner of toys, and will not hesitate to engineer as many practical jokes as possible.”
Only a person with a misplaced sense of humour will behave in the manner the honourable Abrahams has conducted himself of late.
On the eve of the 2016 budget speech, which was to be tabled on February 24, Abrahams’s colleagues at the Hawks sent Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan a list of 27 questions around the so-called SARS “rogue unit” which had been instituted during his tenure there.
The questions revolved around the legality of the unit in general, but one question specifically referred to Gordhan’s authorisation of an early retirement package for Ivan Pillay, the erstwhile head of the unit.
Gordhan responded to the questions on March 30. In a subsequent interview, he said: “I believe this was meant to intimidate and distract us from the work we had to do in preparing the 2016 Budget.”
Then on October 11 Abrahams, guided by his investigative colleagues at the Hawks, announced fraud charges against Gordhan, with an alternative charge of theft.
It was odd that an experienced lawyer like Abrahams made this announcement with alacrity, departing from the established legal norm where a person who has