SA ruling party reaffirms confidence in finance minister

The ruling African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday reaffirmed its unreserved confidence in Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan who is facing possible arrest by police over the so-called "rogue unit".

The ANC echoes the sentiments expressed by both President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa on the undesirability of clusters of government seemingly being "at war" with themselves, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said.

Police's special anti-crime unit, the Hawks, wants Gordhan to be prosecuted for "espionage" in a case related to the activities of the South African Revenue Service's "rogue unit" established while he was the tax agency's commissioner between 1999 and 2009.

Both Zuma and Ramaphosa have voiced confidence in Gordhan, but Zuma also said he has no right to stop investigation into any individual or individuals.

The Hawks' threat to arrest Gordhan has sent the rand plummeting and destabilized the financial market.

Economists believe that the friction was likely to push inflation up, and was bad news for the already sluggish economy that was expecting a strong rand for a rebound.

"The continued speculation and the public spectacle that has resulted from the Hawks' investigation into the so-called 'Spy Unit' at the South African Revenue Services is hurting the economy and could be dealt with better," Mantashe said.

"We do however caution them (Gordhan and the Treasury) against taking a public posture that seems to isolate them from the rest of government and position them as victims to be protected by society," he said.

Mantashe said the ANC's position remains unchanged that all parties to the dispute are encouraged to cooperate in the investigation. Endit