Only a judicial commission of inquiry can stop the “dirty war” over the SARS rogue unit

13 March 2016

The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, has hit back hard, accusing the Hawks of harassment and intimidatory tactics and behaving like the old Security Police.

The Minister claims his attorneys did not receive a “mysterious letter” from the Hawks instructing him to reply to the twenty seven questions relating to their investigation into the SARS “rogue unit” by 16h00 on Monday, 14 March 2016, as was reported in the media.

This is a major escalation in the “dirty war” of leaked documents, off-the-record briefings and anonymous sources being fought over the SARS “rogue unit”.

And it could not have come at a worse time with Moody’s Investor Services carrying out a ratings downgrade review this week in South Africa.

The fact is that the only way to proceed is for President Jacob Zuma to appoint an independent judicial commission of inquiry to investigate all the allegations relating to the SARS “rogue unit”.

Statement issued by David Maynier MP, DA Shadow Minister of Finance, 13 March 2016