Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action. Bond villain Auric Goldfinger's immortal words in the Ian Fleming novel come to mind in considering the appalling proxy battle being waged by top government officials against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.Two months ago, as a team from Moody's Investors Service visited South Africa to review the country's sovereign credit rating, the Hawks launched an astonishing public attack on Gordhan in relation to their investigation into a so-called ''rogue unit'' set up at SARS under his watch in 2009.With the apparent blessing of the police minister, the elite unit threatened legal action against Gordhan unless he immediately answered the 27 questions - leaked to the media - they had sent him as he was preparing the Budget.The rand plunged, as it had done in December when President Jacob Zuma fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister and replaced him with ANC back-bencher Des van Rooyen, who promised to make the Treasury ''more accessible''.This week, on the eve of a visit to South Africa by rating agency S&P Global - which has the country one notch above junk status - senior unnamed Hawks officials told the Sunday Times that the unit was poised to arrest Gordhan for ''espionage'' related to the activities of the ''rogue unit'', and that it was simply waiting for the political go-ahead.Needless to say, the rand plunged again despite denials from the Presidency, the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority that Gordhan's arrest was imminent.Is the latest attack on Gordhan merely coincidence, or does it amount to Goldfinger's ''enemy action''? In many countries, deliberately collapsing a currency or ruining an economy for narrow economic or political ends would be regarded as economic sabotage.Prosecutions would follow.Gordhan is the government's point man on turning the economy around. What is it doing to protect him in the country's hour of need?..