/ 24 August 2016

Pravin Gordhan: Substantial change is not in the colour of a T-shirt

Finance Minister Pravin Gordan said that the promise to consolidate the fiscus has been kept.
Finance Minister Pravin Gordan said that the promise to consolidate the fiscus has been kept.

In his own subtle way, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan made some bold statements about the ANC and why the colour of a T-shirt doesn’t necessarily mean change.

Gordhan was speaking at the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Rumble in the Urban Jungle debate, where he was facing off against political analyst and Financial Mail columnist Justice Malala on the topic of whether South Africa’s economy will boom or go bust. The finance minister spoke on his optimism that change was possible in South Africa, but also made some searing comments on governance in the country.

“Mandela’s ANC wouldn’t tolerate much of what we talk about. I’ve been associated with the ANC for over 40 years, I still believe the majority of people in the organisation are honest citizens,” Gordhan said.

It was Gordhan’s first public appearance since reports had emerged earlier in the day that the Hawks had summoned him to their headquarters, along with four other former SARS officials, regarding the “rogue unit” within the revenue service that was allegedly formed while Gordhan was commissioner.

Earlier this evening, Gordhan released a statement saying he would not appear at the Hawks’ building on Thursday morning, as he was summoned to do, because he was not legally bound to do so. Although he made no comment on the dramatic turn of events during the debate in Cape Town, he openly shared his opinion on the current challenges to South Africa’s economy, which included corruption.

“We must stop the corruption that’s going on – that’s not only people with yellow T-shirts,” he said.

He made references to coal prices – a possible allusion to the Guptas – and people being involved in “the right kind of property deals”, which may have been a hint at the allegations that the Democratic Alliance in the Western Cape has had conflicts of interests in property negotiations, most notably in Clifton and Sea Point in Cape Town.

Malala spoke extensively about the poor and subtly brought up the recent turmoil around the finance minister by making mention of the rand’s recent drop. The currency had hit a three-week low after it emerged that the Hawks had summoned Gordhan. Malala said the poor would be worst affected by the weakening rand.

Gordhan agreed and added that political parties were not the answer to the unemployment crisis the country faces.

“Every colour T-shirt has been pulling this jobs trick –‘vote for me, I’ll give you a job’,” Gordhan said.

Corruption is just one of the problems the minister said needs to be eradicated in order for South Africa to see an economic boom.

“You must be serious about solving unemployment and poverty. The way you do it is to stop the bloody nonsense (corruption),” he said.

Gordhan returned to the position as finance minister after Nhlanhla Nene was adruptly and surprisingly removed from the post on September 12 2015. Gordhan spoke of “9/12” saying that he hopes the gloom which saw the rand sink does not repeat itself. He alluded that he may have made the “wrong decision” when he took the job, but ended his speech as he began it: with optimism.

“Boom or bust is not really the issue,” he concluded. “The issue is do we have the capacity, as our [Olympic] athletes have, to take a leap of faith into the future.” 

“It’s about … whether we have the calibre of leaders in our country to bring about change.”