THE LAST NEWS WORD
ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE NATIONAL TREASURY Part 4 of the Zondo Reports has been delivered to the State President and was released into the public purview. The first part of the Report, comprising 174 pages, is titled ‘Attempted the Capture of the National Treasury’.
F
By Peter Bagshawe.
urther content includes sections devoted to EOH Holdings, Alexkor, The Free State Asbestos Debacle, The Free State R1 billion Housing Project Debacle and The Capture of Eskom. The Eskom section is ninety-two pages long. What is apparent, off the titling of the sections, is an increase in reaction, by Commission Chair Raymond Zondo, to the nature and impact of evidence presented. In this regard the duplication of the word ‘Debacle’ in the title of both Free State sections is significant, as is the level of evidence which justifies the use of ‘Debacle’. By far the most important part of the report deals with attempts to orchestrate
38
SECURITY FOCUS AFRICA MAY 2022
the takeover of the National Treasury. Looked at in context, Treasury is one of the two departments for which the Minister of Finance is the executive authority – the second being the South African Revenue Services (SARS) – as well as three regulatory bodies, being the Financial Services Board (FSB), the Financial Intelligence Centre and the Cooperative Banks Development Agency, plus the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Land Bank and Stats SA. Collectivelym these institutions are, amongst other functions, responsible for developing macroeconomic policies for consideration by Cabinet, collection of revenue, enforcement of tax legislation,
advising Cabinet on allocation of resources between competing policy priorities and allocating resources from the National Reserve Fund to Government. Simply put, the Minister of Finance, being the executive for Treasury, shapes and – to a large extent – steers the economic direction adopted by Government, and is responsible for financial prudence being implemented. Evidence adduced at Commission hearings gave credence to allegations made and the orchestrated removal of two Ministers of Finance, and a Deputy Minister, over a period, with these being Finance Ministers Pravin Gordhan, Nhlanhla Nene and Deputy Finance
securityfocusafrica.com
