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The ANC Women’s League launched an attack on finance minister Pravin Gordhan after he delivered his budget speech on Wednesday, using the narrative that Gordhan was an agent of “white monopoly capital” as ammunition.
The league did not name him directly, referring to him as “the minister”, but they mentioned the name of Tom Moyane, commissioner of South African Revenue Service, when he was lauded for his work at SARS.
It was Moyane who laid a criminal complaint against Gordhan, which is being investigated by the Hawks.
“The focus of the ANC-led government is radical socioeconomic transformation and that must not be watered down by anyone to please rating agencies, white monopoly capital and its agents,” said Meokgo Matuba, secretary-general of the league.
“Regrettably there are incoherences between the state of the nation address by the president and the budget speech by the minister and we are hoping that this incoherence will not trickle down to various departments who are responsible for implementation of government programmes. This will be a direct sabotage to the radical socioeconomic transformation agenda of the ANC-led government.”
The league found it “very disappointing” that “the minister” – Gordhan – didn’t delve deeper into collusion that was recently revealed in the banking sector.
“This will fit the narrative that the ANC-led government is lenient on fraud and corruption by corporates. The soft gloves treatment of cartels has to stop with immediate effect.”
The league asked the government to recall the licences of the banks guilty of collusion, for criminal charges to be laid against directors and executives involved and that the government stop its business with those banks.
The league “applauds the ANC-led government with its good tax administration system implemented by South African Revenue Services. The appointment of capable leadership at Sars is yielding positive results. Under the leadership of Commissioner Tom Moyane and his collective, Sars has been performing exceptionally well and that is applauded.”
The league was firmly behind President Jacob Zuma, and was believed to support Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the next president of the ANC at this stage of the ruling party’s leadership battle.
Bathabile Dlamini, minister of social development and the league’s chairperson, was one of the ministers who didn’t rise to applaud Gordhan at the end of his speech on Wednsday.
In his budget speech, Gordhan said the Competition Commission investigation had revealed that there was evidence of a “collusive culture” at trading desks in banks.
He said that more needed to be done to transform the financial sector, which needed to “broaden access through more affordable financial services, improve market conduct, ensure employment equity at top management levels, provide procurement opportunities and transform ownership”.
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