Ramaphosa files affidavit in support of Gordhan
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday filed an affidavit supporting Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan's bid to halt the implementation of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's remedial action.
This follows a report released in May, where Mkhwebane found Gordhan to have acted inappropriately during his time as a finance minister - when he approved early retirement pay-out to former South African Revenue Service executive Ivan Pillay.
She recommended that Ramaphosa take disciplinary action against Gordhan, but the presidency noted that no deadline was given as to when it should be done.
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At the end of a 30-day period, Mkhwebane wrote to Ramaphosa and accused him of being in contempt of the office of the public protector for his failure to take action against Gordhan.
In a statement, Ramaphosa says any action against Gordhan needs to be informed by whether the validity of the investigation and findings.
"The president says in his submission that it is clear from minister Gordhan’s review application that there is a bona fide justiciable dispute between minister Gordhan and the public protector over the legal validity of the public protector's investigations and findings and the remedial action she has directed in her report.
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"Moreover, minister Gordhan also takes issue with the tacit assumption of the public protector that the president has legal powers ‘to take appropriate disciplinary action’ against the minister when the minister is not appointed to the cabinet as an employee who is subject to disciplinary action, but rather as a minister who serves at the pleasure of the president."