Was Pravin Gordhan the real target of the proposal to probe the termination of financial services to Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd? 

22 September 2016

The leaked findings of Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane’s Inter-Ministerial Committee on the termination of financial services to Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd, suggest that the real target of the proposal to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry may have been the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, who did not participate in meetings of the Inter-Ministerial Committee. 

Terrifyingly, the leaked document states that enough information has been supplied to suggest that the Judicial Commission of Inquiry be established to: “consider the allegations against certain members of Cabinet and their abuse of powers and authority as well as the various banks or institutions in question as regards alleged collusion and/or failure to comply with FICA [sic] alternatively with PCCAA”. 

This is quite different from the Inter-Ministerial Committee’s statement on 01 September 2016, which simply states that Cabinet resolved: “To recommend to the President that given the nature of the allegations and the response received that the President consider establishing a Judicial Enquiry [sic] in terms of section 84 (2) (f) of the Constitution.” 

The leaked findings, therefore, suggest, for the first time, that the real intention behind the proposal to establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry was to target and investigate cabinet members for their role in the termination of financial services to Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd. 

And it’s hard not to conclude that the cabinet member who would have been most likely investigated is the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, who correctly advised Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd, to seek relief in the courts. 

Whatever the case, the leaked findings underline the fact that the Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane, is a “hired gun”, acting in the interests of the Guptas, rather than in the public interest as he is required to do by the Constitution, and should be fired. 

We cannot let this matter rest and I will therefore submit detailed parliamentary questions to the Minister of Mineral Resources, Mosebenzi Zwane, probing how it is that the findings of the Inter-Ministerial Commission came into the possession of Bell Pottinger, a public relations company representing Oakbay Investments (Pty) Ltd.

Issued by David Maynier, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 22 September 2016