‘Legally impossible’ for Gordhan to influence Pillay appointment, Public Protector finds
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has found that it would have been impossible for Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan to influence the appointment of Judge Dhaya Pillay.
The complaint was lodged by Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Deputy President Floyd Shivambu in 2021.
Pillay hit the headlines last year after former chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng insinuated that Gordhan may have tried to lobby for her appointment to the Constitutional Court.
The attempt was supposedly made during a meeting between Gordhan and Mogoeng at the Twelve Apostle Hotel and Spa in Cape Town in April 2016.
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On Wednesday Mkhwebane said while Mogoeng and Gordhan did meet at the hotel, this was after the Judicial Services Commission announced the results of the interview.
"The investigation revealed that when Mr Gordhan and Mr Mogoeng met at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa, Victory Street, Camps Bay, Cape Town on 6 April 2016, the spokesperson for the Judicial Services Commission had already announced the interview results and it was already public knowledge that Judge Pillay had not made it.
"It would therefore be factually or legally impossible for Mr Gordhan to have influenced the outcome of an interview that had already been concluded. Accordingly, Mr Gordhan’s conduct could not be regarded as having been in breach of paragraphs 2.1(c) and (d) and 2.3(b) of the Executive Ethics Code.
"We have had to close this investigation because Mr Shivambu’s allegations could not be corroborated."
