In South Africa: Government bonds weaken on Treasury row, rand steady

The rift between Moyane and his boss Gordhan has become a public spectacle, heightened by reports that the finance minister asked Zuma to decide who must remain between the two. The finance minister later denied this, but reiterated that Monyane would be redeployed.

In a statement released on Monday, the presidency said that the rumour that President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan were at odds with each other was “a total fabrication and mischievous sensationalism”.

The DA said there was no dispute that the Hawks had launched an investigation into the SARS “rogue unit”, which Gordhan believes is politically motivated and aimed at trying to intimidate and distract him, as well as destabilise the economic stability of South Africa.

The Business Day newspaper said on Friday that Gordhan had threatened to resign from the cabinet last weekend, ahead of his budget speech on Wednesday, unless current SARS commissioner Tom Moyane was removed from his role. The President wishes to emphasise that Minister Gordhan remains the Minister of Finance and any positing that the position of the Minister is under any threat is dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

Since then, insiders say ANC leaders have given Gordhan a mandate to do whatever needs to be done to prevent South Africa from being downgraded to junk status.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Friday expressed the ruling party’s support for Gordhan.

According to the City Press, the president is in an awkward position as Monyane is known to be a Zuma loyalist – while Gordhan is fairly independent-minded, and reportedly clashes with the president.

The DA said Zuma was in “full damage control mode desperately trying to keep the political lid on the internal civil war, which has broken out over the so-called “rogue unit” within SARS”.

South Africa’s finance minister said on Friday he would take legal action to protect himself from what he called attempts to discredit him and the integrity of the Treasury.

Government officials told the paper that Zuma has no power to instruct law enforcement agencies what to do, or to tell them to stop an investigation, and that Gordhan wanted to “be above the law, which is hard for the president”. “Measures are being put in place to address the issues responsibly and amicably”. We urge interested parties to exercise calm and restraint and allow space for the matters to be resolved using correct channels.