ANC calls meeting to address ‘spats’ and ‘impasses’

An invitation to a media briefing by the African National Congress’ (ANC) National Working Committee (NWC) on Tuesday read like a fight card with headline three bouts.

Pravin Gordhan versus the Hawks.

Eskom versus National Treasury.

And itself versus the chair of SA’s rail authority.

The party said the NWC had met “in an ordinary meeting” on Monday and “amongst the issues discussed were”:

- 1) “The impasse between minister of finance and the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks)”.

Bloomberg reported that “the standoff between Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and the Hawks has caused the rand and bonds to plunge. And the next victim could be the consumer.”

This after Gordhan last week refused to bow to a Hawks demand that he present himself for a warning statement stemming from his time as commissioner of the SA Revenue Service.

- 2) “Ongoing public spat between Eskom and the National Treasury”.

Executives at Eskom have resisted attempts to investigate coal contracts entered into by the state-owned power utility and Tegeta Exploration & Resources Ltd‚ a company controlled by the Gupta family.

3) “Allegations of impropriety involving the ANC at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa)”.

The ANC on Friday moved quickly to deny allegations that it was implicated in bribes involving Prasa after chairperson Popo Molefe had‚ in court papers‚ alleged “that the supplier of Prasa's controversial Afro 4000 locomotives paid R80-million to ‘entities who were not creditors’ of the company after an Angolan businesswoman had insisted that 10% of the tender's value be paid to the ANC”.