National Treasury will not discuss SANRAL in Parliament on Tuesday
7 May 2012
After discussions with the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Finance Thaba Mufamadi, it has been agreed that it would neither be possible nor prudent for the National Treasury officials to speak to the committee on Tuesday, 8 May 2012 about the South African National Roads Agency Ltd (SANRAL) and the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project (GFIP).
As announced on Friday, Cabinet at its meeting on Thursday last week appointed a committee, which is chaired by Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, to coordinate all the work around the GFIP.
This committee will move with urgency to ensure, among other things, SANRAL's financial stability, determine an appropriate response to the North Gauteng High Court's ruling and other legal matters, and also meet with relevant stakeholders in order to find constructive solutions and seek to build consensus on outstanding matters.
As a signal of the urgency and the seriousness with which Cabinet views the GFIP matter, the Director-General in the Presidency, Cassius Lubisi, who is also a member of the Cabinet committee, convened a meeting on Friday last week of all relevant officials to discuss the best possible way forward on the GFIP issue.
In addition, some of the issues that committee members may want National Treasury officials to clarify are issues that will be dealt with during the second leg of the court hearing into the e-tolling case. Given these circumstances, any comment by the National Treasury officials on the GFIP issue would neither be prudent nor appropriate. We would ask all South Africans to exercise patience. The Cabinet Committee will report as soon as possible on the progress of its work.
Also, the Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, will not be attending Tuesday's meeting as he will be accompanying Deputy President Motlanthe during his visit to Germany.
Statement issued by National Treasury, May 7 2012
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