South African finance minister to miss police deadline in spy unit case

Earlier in the discussion, Gordhan was asked why Moyane, the head of the South African Revenue Service (Sars), was not part of the panel at his pre-budget press briefing on Wednesday, as the head of the Sars is usually present.

Gordhan is a former head of the South African Revenue Service.

Reports that Zuma and Gordhan are in conflict is “a total fabrication and mischievous sensationalism”, he said.

The unit was accused of spying on influential South Africans, including President Jacob Zuma.

“All cabinet ministers and the deputy president serve at the President’s pleasure, so how do you have a war with your employer?”

Reports emerged on Friday that Gordhan threatened to resign shortly before his Budget Speech last week after he received a list of 27 questions from the Hawks investigating the operation of a rogue unit at Sars.

“He will respond in due course, once he has properly examined the questions and ascertained what information, of the information you request, he is able to provide”, Gordhan told the Hawks through his lawyers.

He said if police officers started concerning themselves with the political timing of their investigations “we (as a country) are heading for trouble”.

Mr Gordhan was the Commissioner at SARS at the time when the covert unit was allegedly established.

“The work of the police is governed and is dictated by the constitutional mandate, for an example, we investigate crime – we also do follow up and investigate on specific sort of complaints”, he said.

He also made it clear it’s not unusual for questions to be sent during investigations such as those sent to Minister Gordhan. When asked about Moyane’s absence, Gordhan said there were issues at SARS that needed to be resolved and would be done so within a couple of weeks.

“The difficulty in the relationship between the Minister of Finance and the SARSCommissioner is being dealt with through the correct channels, using the correct legal prescripts”, Majola said.

It’s unfortunate that the tension between the Finance Minister and Sars Commissioner has come to an ultimatum of who will stay and who will go.

Moyane was appointed by Zuma to replace Oupa Magashula in 2014.