Public Protector Busisiwe Mkwhebane said that Parliament’s refusal to call Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to testify in her impeachment inquiry means the Section 194 committee would have to accept her version of his alleged involvement in illegalities during his tenure as the South African Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner.
Testifying in Parliament for a fifth day on Thursday, Mkhwebane repeatedly said that she never acted with bias towards Gordhan or former Sars executive, Ivan Pillay, as was found by a full bench of the High Court.
Mkhwebane said that her evidence showed that Gordhan was involved both in the establishment of a suspicious investigative unit at the revenue service during his tenure as commissioner, as well as the illegal appointments of staff to occupy it.
This included an earlier witness at this inquiry, Johann van Loggerenberg.
But Mkhwebane said that her probe was never about the people, but the process.
“It was not an issue of malice or trying all out to deal with people. It was purely looking into what the policy’s saying and we are not dealing with one individual here, we are dealing with a number of people who have been employed during that process for that particular unit.”
Mkhwebane said it would be helpful if Gordhan was subpoenaed to clarify his position to the inquiry, something the committee had previously refused to do.
“The main purpose of this investigation was based on the fact that he was the accounting officer.”
Her testimony continues.
-EWN
In other news – VIDEO: Inside Scandal! actress Mapaseka Koetle’s Birthday celebration
South African actress, businesswoman, and blogger, Mapaseka Koetle gave us an insight into what went down when she was celebrating the day she was born, and judging from the shared video, she, her friends, and her family really had a great time, which will be a thing to remember for the coming years.
She was born on the 23rd of March in the year, 1989, in Bloemfontein, Free State. She is known for her role as Dintle Nyathi in the South African soap drama television series Scandal!. Learn More