'Your findings are so random‚' Gigaba tells Mkhwebane

Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba has accused the public protector of having made “haphazard” conclusions in her CIEX report‚ which looked into a bailout granted by the Reserve Bank to Bankorp.

In his second supplementary founding affidavit filed in the Pretoria High Court last week‚ Gigaba said in her report Busisiwe Mkhwebane had relied on “random‚ unsubstantiated and selected” documents.

The Reserve Bank‚ Absa‚ Parliament and Gigaba have challenged her findings.

In her report‚ Mkhwebane said the government and the Reserve Bank had not protected the public interest when it bailed out Bankorp between 1985 and 1995.

Bankorp was bought by Absa in 1992. She made recommendations to recover the money‚ which included amending the constitution to change the Reserve Bank’s mandate – a move that was widely criticised.

The criticism included claims that Mkhwebane had overstepped her powers.

Gigaba said the public protector had failed to conduct a diligent investigation that complied with her “statutory and constitutional mandate”.

“She reached conclusions of fact and law without proper appreciation and sound analysis of the documents that were before her. She failed to ask for information from relevant parties to assist her investigation‚” Gigaba said in his affidavit.

He described the public protector’s findings as “generalised‚ random and hasty”.

“It is for this reason and the numerous others that the government wishes to have the report set aside … the report’s conclusions are so manifestly lacking in logic‚ the indubitable conclusion is the investigation did not receive a proper consideration from the Public Protector‚” Gigaba’s affidavit reads.

In his affidavit‚ Gigaba invited Mkhwebane to explain what documentation she had received from “official” sources she mentions but does not name in her report.