https://www.engineeringnews.co.za

Outrage over Zuma's order to Gordhan, Jonas

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan

27th March 2017

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

To download a copy of the National Treasury's statement confirming Minister Pravin Gordhan's expected return to South Africa, click here.  (0.17 MB)

President Jacob Zuma's instruction to Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas to immediately return home from an investor roadshow in the UK and US has raised eyebrows among the opposition and civil society.

"The instruction to cancel the international investor roadshow without explanation is so bizarre that it appears, at best, calculated to humiliate the Minister or, at worst, to suggest that the Minister is about to be fired in a Cabinet reshuffle," Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier said.

Earlier on Monday, the Presidency issued a statement to say the two had been instructed to come home. With no reason made public, there had been widespread speculation.

Maynier said Zuma needed to explain his instruction because it could not have come at a worse time as the Ministers were trying to restore investor confidence in South Africa.

Congress of the People spokesperson Pakes Dikgetsi interpreted the instruction as "hideously vindictive".

"What is it that's so urgent that Zuma cannot wait for the Ministers to return from a planned international programme?" he asked.

The one-sentence statement issued by the Presidency read: "President Jacob Zuma has instructed the Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan and Deputy Minister Mcebisi Jonas to cancel the international investment promotion roadshow to the United Kingdom and the United States and return to South Africa immediately."

Equal Education said the Gordhan and Jonas combination was preventing looting at the Treasury.

"It is clear to us that Minister Gordhan and Deputy Minister Jonas have held the line on important questions of principle such as the criminality in the ongoing Sassa [South African Social Security Agency] scandal, the unaffordable nuclear deal, the collapse of SARS as a flagship state institution, and wasteful expenditure and mismanagement in departments such as Water Affairs and Forestry, and at SAA," Equal Education said.

Zuma had a constitutional duty to recall numerous Ministers who had proven themselves incompetent, arrogant and corrupt.

"Gordhan and Jonas are not among these," the organisation said.

Sunday, April 1, is D-day for the continuation of the payment of social grants. The Department of Social Development went halfway into March without a signed agreement to replace Cash Paymaster Services (CPS).

CPS had to carry on paying grants from April 1, for another 12 months, even though its contract with Sassa was invalid, the Constitutional Court ruled on March 17.

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

Showroom

Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East
Weir Minerals Africa and Middle East

Weir Minerals Europe, Middle East and Africa is a global supplier of excellent minerals solutions, including pumps, valves, hydrocyclones,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Multotec
Multotec

Multotec, recognised industry leaders in metallurgy and process engineering help mining houses across the world process minerals more efficiently,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.075 0.127s - 182pq - 10rq
Subscribe Now