Update on Gordhan arrest
It should be noted that the outrage of the Presidency and Shaun Abrahams head of the NPA over the Sunday Times report relates to the question of whether an arrest is “imminent”. They deny that but Abrahams confirms that he has been given a docket and sent it back for further work and he cannot confirm or deny whether Gordhan is a suspect. In other words, the Hawks, being rather eager to please Zuma and get rid of the Treasury people, may have presented a mishmash of evidence that is not easy to prosecute. NPA cannot work on that. So it is by no means over.

That is not to say that they can successfully prosecute Gordhan or anyone else in relation to the ‘rogue unit’ that never existed. The Sunday Times was fed information about this alleged unit but has in recent times fully recanted on that story and admitted that it was not ethical journalism. The Press Ombud had already found that to be the case. It will be hard to prove that Gordhan or others involved in the SARS at the time acted illegally.

The NPA is engaged in a lot of legal actions that are politically problematic but also unsuccessful. It has been rapped over the knuckles over prosecuting Booysen in KZN under Nomgciba Jiba (one of the bases for the bar council moving for her to be disciplined) but now he has been re-charged with substantially the same charges as before, under Abrahams.

This is part of a broader attack on the functioning of law enforcement agencies where they manifest professionalism and integrity. Charges or suspensions against others considered problematic like General Sibiya and Robert McBride have been thrown out or are still being contested. There is hardly an institution where there is optimal functionality, due to the political reasons for removing people.