Pravin Gordhan under attack: Four must-read articles
From rumour-mongering about his qualifications to implications in the so-called "rogue unit", minister of public enterprises Pravin Gordhan continues to make headlines.
Here are four must-read stories on Gordhan:
Juju vs Gordhan
On July 3, EFF leader Julius Malema called for President Cyril Ramaphosa to take action against Gordhan, saying that the president treats him "as a god".
"Ramaphosa is continuing to treat Pravin Gordhan as a god [who] is not subject to the law like all of us. Above all, like Zuma, he is not protecting the constitution by complying with the remedial action of the public protector," he said.
This statement came after Ramaphosa allegedly told public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane it was premature for him to take disciplinary action against Gordhan, after she claimed that Gordhan acted unlawfully when he approved former SA Revenue Service deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay's early retirement with full pension benefits.
Urgent "rogue unit" review
Gordhan said he had instructed his legal representatives to consider the public protector’s report and to prepare an urgent review.
In Mkhwebane's report into the establishment of the Sars "rogue unit", she found that the setting up of the unit was in violation of the constitution.
Mkhwebane added that only the president of the country had powers to sign off on such an intelligence-gathering unit.
Working around the clock
TimesLIVE reported that Gordhan’s lawyers are working around the clock to finish his court application to review and possibly set aside Mkhwebane’s findings on his role in the establishment of the so-called Sars "rogue unit".
The minister's spokesperson Adriaan Lackay said they have tasked lawyers to bring a court application this week.
It is worth noting that this will be Gordhan’s second review application against findings by Mkhwebane. The first one was regarding her report which stated that he unlawfully approved ex-Sars executive Ivan Pillay’s early retirement payout at the expense of taxpayers.
Bachelor of pharmacy degree
On Monday Gordhan made Twitter's top trending list after rumours about his qualifications gained momentum.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) confirmed the minister studied at the institution and successfully completed the requirements for a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree in 1973.
Ashton Bodrick, the university's executive director for corporate relations, added that Gordhan received an honorary doctorate in 2003 and the Convocation Award in 2013 from the university.
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