The lawyer representing Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has raised concerns over the manner in which his client received Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s notice – inviting him to respond to allegations against him.
Tebogo Malatji was responding to a YouTube video posted by Mkhwebane’s office, of her detailing the investigations against Gordhan.
It follows a complaint by Economic Freedom Fighters’ (EFF) Deputy President Floyd Shivambu – who claims Gordhan lied to Parliament when he said he never met with the Gupta family.
The complaint also requests that she investigate the establishment of the so-called Rogue Unit at South African Revenue Service (SARS).
Malatji has questioned the reasons behind Mkhwebane posting a YouTube video, rather than holding a press conference.
He also claims the notice for Gordhan to respond within 10 days was posted online before their offices received email correspondence of it.
“I received notification of that video from some of our clients and in council. I was shocked and I went into my emails and called the office and we hadn’t received the notice yet. Her position is that by the time she issues this notice she’s got a draft report ready and that begs the question, can I have an implicated party a reasonable explanation of an open mind? It seems to us not,” explains Malatji.
“Our concern is ordinarily if she wanted to announce this particular event, she would have done so at a [press] conference but she’s chosen a very different mode of communicating it which is one where she can’t be questioned. We think it is potentially ground for us to complain,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Mkhwebane has denied allegations from the public that she’s harassing Gordhan.
“There were allegations that I am harassing him [Gordhan] and we issued a subpoena to him requesting information about several investigations which we were conducting. It needs to be clear to South Africans that I receive complaints; I don’t go around and ask people to complain. Therefore, when I receive the complaints, I will have to approach the person who is complained against and request their side of the story,” explains the Public Protector.
