Respect each other‚ Mantashe tells parties in Gordhan saga

30 August 2016 - 17:19 By Penwell Dlamini And Ernest Mabuza

African National Congress secretary general Gwede Mantashe has urged both the Hawks and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to handle the current investigations of the latter with decency. Speaking after the national working committee of the ANC‚ Mantashe said the Hawks investigation of Gordhan was not wrong but handled badly by the parties involved.Hawks ‘Hollywood style’ probe of Gordhan hurting economy: MantasheThere is an element of "humiliating" Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan in the way the Hawks is conducting its investigation‚ ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe said on Tuesday. Mantashe also called for other cabinet minister to refrain from making public statements which supported either of the parties.Zuma and ANC leaders must go‚ says PityanaPresident Jacob Zuma and the entire African National Congress leadership must go‚ says party stalwart Sipho Pityana. “I will worry if the Hawks are investigating me and that investigation is capturing headlines of newspapers…All we are cautioning our comrades is when they get in the fray and take sides. What you are doing is legitimising a conspiracy narrative [which says] no this is not a real investigation‚ it is political‚” Mantashe told journalists at a briefing at Luthuli House‚ in Johannesburg.Cosatu slams Van Rooyen, Maphatsoe for donning ‘different hats’ to criticise GordhanThe Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) has hit out at Kebby Maphatsoe and Des van Rooyen for "publicly condemning" Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and using "different political hats as justification". “All we are saying is that please deal with this matter in a decent way. We do not say Pravin Gordhan must be untouchable. We are saying that it is unnatural to send 27 questions and come back further down the line and send seven question. If you do that‚ you are not doing your work‚ but humiliating the minister‚” he added.The ANC expressed dissatisfaction at the public spat between Eskom and the National Treasury.“It has been unfortunate that Eskom and the National Treasury have also taken their disagreement to the public domain on matters relating to procurement practices of the state-owned enterprise.“The ANC calls for an urgent meeting between ministers of public enterprises‚ treasury and minister of energy to decisively deal with the matter in a manner that promotes public confidence.”Eskom and the National Treasury have been in a war of words since Monday on whether or not Eskom has been cooperating with the department in its investigation into coal contracts signed by the parastatal.The finance department said its efforts to investigate the contracts with Eskom had met resistance from the parastatal‚ while Eskom countered that it had been cooperating.Mantashe said if the disagreements were in the public domain‚ this dented the confidence of society in the state and its institutions to deal with problems they must be dealing with...

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