Treasury smear was a warning
FOR some, the writing had been on the wall about Nhlanhla Nene for months.
They had thought the strongwilled, fiscally strict Nene might be removed in September, when Ngoako Ramatlhodi was shifted from mineral resources to the public service and administration portfolio after clashing with powerful mining figures.
Over the past few months, Nene had taken an everstronger line on fiscal discipline, especially with regard to new nuclear plants and SAA spending.
One of the first signs of doubt around Nene’s tenure surfaced in August, when Business Day reported on a smear attempt in the form of a purported intelligence document.
In it, National Treasury top brass and several senior politicians were said to be beholden to the “white establishment”, notably at Stellenbosch University, where, the document claimed, a plan — “Project Spider KEEP CALM: Nhlanhla Nene being sworn in as finance minister last year. He was axed this week Web” — was hatched in the dying months of apartheid to control fiscal policy in a democratic South Africa.
The document, which is riddled with generalities, spelling errors and factual mistakes, named a former minister and his wife as kingpins in the project. It said the former minister’s wife was “handling Nene”.
The document detailed a supposed meeting between Nene and senior Treasury staff at a Cape Town hotel during the World Economic Forum event held in the city in June.
According to the document, Nene said the Treasury should deal with state-owned enterprises with a firm hand, and called for private sector involvement in such enterprises.
Nene is also supposed to have said that Lungisa Fuzile would not have his contract as director-general of the Treasury renewed.
The document further claimed that Nene said the SAA board would have their contracts terminated by September this year.
At the time, Nene denied the claims in the document, saying that he had at first thought it to be a joke, especially because it was so badly written.
But he also indicated that he would try to get to the bottom of the document and find out who had written it.