Finance Minister Pravin Gordan said that the promise to consolidate the fiscus has been kept.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) may have dropped the charges against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, as well as former South African Revenue Service (Sars) senior officials Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magushula, but it’s not enough. Leaders of various action campaigns scheduled for November 2 say Gordhan may be off the hook, but South Africa is still in crisis.
Two approved marches organised by the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) are set to take place undeterred on Wednesday, while the Save South Africa campaign will host a people’s assembly. Following NPA head Shaun Abrahams’s announcement that the fraud charges against Gordhan, Pillay and Magashula would be dropped, the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD) released a statement warning of affected roads.
“All marches will commence from 8am until 3pm. The DA and the EFF will march from Church Square to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court,” the TMPD said.
The EFF and Save South Africa had announced their plans in the aftermath of the NPA announcing that it had laid charges against Gordhan. Both groups maintain, however, that their protests are not just about the finance minister.
The people’s assembly to remove the president
“It’s a people’s assembly against state capture,” said Lawson Naidoo, one of the leaders in the Save South Africa campaign.
Naidoo, who is also a member of the executive committee of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC), said that the assembly would be a mass meeting where speakers from religious institutions, business, labour and civil society organisations would share their thoughts and experiences. The campaign is calling for President Jacob Zuma to resign amid allegations of state capture and his alleged involvement in assisting the Gupta family to influence state institutions.
“We used the occasion of the appearance of the minister and the other two former Sars officials in court to mobilise people on that day,” Naidoo said.
“It doesn’t detract from the broader issues that we’re trying to address which include the capture of key institutions in the state and, in particular, the continued attempts to undermine the integrity of treasury and to capture the national fiscus.”
In a statement released on Wednesday, the campaign found Abrahams’s decision to withdraw the charges of fraud against Gordhan, Pillay, and Magashula encouraging, saying that it “shows that we can stop state capture”. The group have called on Abrahams to step down as national director of public prosecutions.
“Mr Abrahams is not fit and proper to be the national director of public prosecutions. The manner in which he’s dealt with this issue of charges against the minister of finance demonstrates his unsuitability for the office,” Naidoo said.
Save South Africa’s view is largely echoed by the EFF, who are planning to occupy Tshwane through mass protest.
“It’s not about Gordhan, it’s about society as a whole’
The EFF re-iterated its intention to occupy Tshwane following Abrahams’s announcement, with leader Julius Malema tweeting: “We are going ahead with our protest on the 02 Nov to demand #shaunabrahams to resign & #ZumaMustFall. Let’s meet @ church square in Pretoria”.
The EFF have also written a letter to the chairperson of the General Council of the Bar, Vuyani Ngalwana, requesting that Abrahams be disbarred. Ngalwana said that he would further study the letter this week. The EFF, however, is determined Abrahams must go.
“We think he’s an enemy of the prosecuting system. He has acted in a way that has put the institution into disrepute and we feel that as a general practitioner in the legal practice that he’s disqualified himself,” Fana Mokoena, acting national spokesperson of the EFF, told the Mail & Guardian.
Mokoena said that South Africans were misguided in thinking that the day of action planned for Wednesday was focused solely on Gordhan. Added to the demand that Abrahams be disbarred and must resign, the EFF’s march is also in solidarity with #FeesMustFall and a demand for Zuma to step down.
“The march is not about Gordhan,” Mokoena said.
“I don’t think anyone should’ve planned any action against one case of one man. I think it’s important that we address societal issues in a whole sale.”
So far, Cosatu has been the only organisation to announce it has cancelled a march planned for November 2. The trade union says that their protest was cancelled after the charges against Gordhan were dropped. DA leader Mmusi Maimane has, however, continued to say that the DA march is against President Zuma and state capture.
Zuma’s application to interdict the public protector’s report on state capture will be heard in court on November 2.