JUST IN: Gordhan fights Mkhwebane’s report: ‘Public Protector has once again erred’

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan plans to institute immediate review proceedings against the Public Protector’s report and findings, including the proposed remedial action, that she announced to the media on Friday.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan guilty of “improper conduct” over his approval of then-deputy SA Revenue Services Commissioner Ivan Pillay’s early retirement and payout.

Mkhwebane made the announcement at a media briefing on Friday afternoon. In her remedial findings, Mkhwebane urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to take appropriate disciplinary action against Gordhan for violating the Constitution.

She also says that steps need to be taken to recover the money.

In a six-page statement that she read out and shared with the media, Mkhwebane said that Gordhan should not have approved the early retirement with full pension benefits of Pillay in 2010 and his re-employment on a fixed term contract. Gordhan was finance minister at the time.

On Friday evening, Gordhan has been advised by senior legal counsel that the Public Protector’s findings, are “totally wrong both in fact and in law”, according to a statement issued on behalf of Gordhan on Friday evening.

On May 24, 2019, the Public Protector announced her findings to the media, a little under 48 hours from when Gordhan’s response was submitted to her.            

“In light of the most recent judgment in relation to the Vrede Dairy Project, Minister Gordhan is of the view that the Public Protector has once again erred in her findings and proposed remedial action,” reads the statement.

The statement indicates that review proceedings will be instituted immediately.