Gordhan: I’m not above the law

Mogomotsi Magome

FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan has rejected a new deadline given to him by the Hawks to answer 27 questions related to the establishment of the alleged “rogue spy unit” at the SA Revenue Service (Sars) when he was still the commissioner.

The deadline is 4pm today.

Gordhan has also lashed out at the Independent Media (IM) group for “portraying me as a villain” in a story published by The Sunday Independent yesterday about the deadline.

Gordhan, who has recently returned from a US and UK roadshow to allay investors and rating agencies’ fears about the country’s economy, told IM yesterday he was not above the law and would answer the Hawks’ questions.

However, said Gordhan, the deadline could not be met because of the work, including the roadshow, the Treasury was doing to address the economic challenges and legal issues that still needed to be addressed related to the Hawks’ questions.

“This letter indicates the refusal of the police unit to state for the record the precise legislative provision in terms of which they are asking the questions, the deadline imposed is not achievable given the roadshow I was undertaking.

“In respect of the questions, once the legal matters have been clarified, I will respond to the questions in accordance with the advice provided by my lawyers.

“I am, like all South Africans, not above the law,” said Pravin.

But the exchanges between Gordhan and the Hawks lay bare the extent to which tension between various organs of state and politicians have escalated.

It has becomes apparent that Gordhan sees the Hawks’ pursuit of the questions and their investigation as part of attempts to curtail the work he is doing to intervene in what has been referred to as the “capture of the state” by influential groupings like the controversial Gupta family.

At the centre of Gordhan’s discontent with IM is a letter sent by the Hawks to him setting out the response deadline.

In The Sunday Independent story, an impression was created that the letter was recent and had given Gordhan an ultimatum to respond today or face the consequences.

IM has since established that the letter was in fact sent and received by the minister’s attorneys on March 3, and had been responded to by the minister’s attorneys, where they said the deadline was “unachievable”.

In a response to the letter from Hawks boss Bening Ntlemeza, Gordhan has reiterated his stance in questioning the Hawks’ legislative powers.

Ntlemeza has, in turn, as reported by The Sunday Independent, dismissed Gordhan’s contentions and referred the minister to the act that established the Hawks.