Johannesburg | Wednesday
SOUTH African Chamber of Business (Sacob) CEO Kevin Wakeford gave ‘vague and unsubstantiated’ evidence before the Myburgh commission into the collapse of the rand in Johannesburg yesterday.
Wakeford appeared to be protecting his one verbal, as yet unidentified source of information, and said: ”It is important to understand when dealing with a source that the person is scared”.
”In normal circumstances the source would have come forward. But the moment their name is mentioned the source is exposed.”
In a letter to President Thabo Mbeki on January 8 Wakeford alleged that chemical producer Sasol and Deutsche Bank had colluded to depreciate the rand, and that Deutsche Bank had very strong links with the Department of Finance and the SA Reserve Bank (SARB).
The companies have denied the claims.
The letter, Wakeford said, was a contributing factor for Mbeki to establish the R25-million commission, headed by Advocate John Myburgh.
”My source told me that the information had been reported to the SARB but no action had been taken, so I took the information the source had given me to the President.”
A rand commissioner, Christine Qunta was quoted as saying that Wakeford’s evidence had been ”vague and unsubstantiated”.
Wakeford told the commission that, to his knowledge, his source had no intention to appear at the commission to justify, explain or retract their allegations.
He said he believed it was the role of the commission to determine whether the allegations were true.
DA finance representative Raenette Taljaard said in a statement on Tuesday: ”He (Wakeford) provided no substantive supporting evidence for the allegations he made against Sasol and Deutsche Bank and he refused to name his source.”
There appeared to be no objective reason for Wakeford’s reluctance to name his source.
”Mr Wakeford chose to make the ‘evidence’ he submitted to the president the lodestar of his campaign for the inquiry. His empty-handed appearance before Judge Myburgh today is potentially deeply damaging to his own reputation, the reputation of Sacob and the image of South Africa.” His appearance had also done little to dispel concerns of a misguided witch-hunt and had instead reinforced these concerns, Taljaard said.
”Apart from probing possible illegal action one is left with the impression that the Myburgh Commission is being asked to draw new lines of ethical and unethical conduct in exchange transactions. ”If this is the intention it will place the Commission in uncharted and potentially dangerous waters.”
Taljaard said it remained to be seen whether Reserve Bank Governor Tito Mboweni would be as protective of Wakeford’s unnamed ”credible source”.
Taljaard urged the Presidency to break its silence about the further evidence it possessed, which had led to the establishment of the commission.
”This evidence must be submitted to Judge Myburgh and released into the public domain. Failing to do so could also place the credibility of the Commission at risk.”
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank said in a statement it continued to co-operate with the commission and its investigators and was scheduled to present testimony on Wednesday.
In his letter to Mbeki, Wakeford alleged that Sasol and Deutsche Bank colluded to depreciate the rand, and that Deutsche Bank had very strong links with the Department of Finance and the SA Reserve Bank (SARB).
Wakeford said on Tuesday he had written a letter to Mbeki in a short period of time, but had carefully considered his allegations when compiling his statement to the commission.
”My source told me that the information had been reported to the SARB but no action had been taken, so I took the information the source had given me to the President.”
Wakeford told counsel representing SARB that he had not verified with the SARB or any outside party whether the information was valid.
The SARB’s counsel said the bank had been investigating the information since October last year and that details of the investigation would be made known when a representative testified on Friday.” – Sapa