South Africa’s Finance minister faces possib

Treasury has confirmed that Gordhan received correspondence from the Hawks, saying the minister is taking legal advice.

This news sent the rand plummeting against hard currencies, weakening to over R14 to the US Dollar.

The charges relate to the establishment and conduct of a small South African Revenue (Sars) Service investigative unit, the National Research Group, which would be later known as the High Risk Investigation Unit which focused on serious organised crime and reported to Van Loggerenberg as well as the early retirement and rehiring of Pillay.

South African assets slumped on Wednesday a day after an elite police unit summoned Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over an investigation into a suspected rogue unit of the tax service, fuelling speculation that there was a plot to oust him.

Since then, the South African rand has steadily firmed up.

In a further indication that knives are out for Gordhan‚ SARS has also launched an investigation into IT contracts as part of the “modernisation project” awarded during Gordhan’s tenure as SARS commissioner. Financial markets and the currency tumbled following that decision and President Zuma was forced to remove Mr van Rooyen as finance minister and offer the job to Mr Gordhan.

He said he believed this move would do more damage than the firing of former Minister of Finance, Nhlanhla Nene. Figures for the second quarter are due out in early September. The George Bizos Foundation and Helen Suzman Foundation are expected to tell the Hawks they must also be arrested.

A Zuma-backed plan to build a fleet of nuclear power plants, at a cost of as much as $60 billion (45 billion pounds), has been a cause of tension with the Treasury for months and is likely adding to pressure on Gordhan’s position, analysts say.

The opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) has warned the potential arrest of Mr Gordhan would be a disaster for South Africa. “Gordhan refuses to sign-off on the Russian nuclear deal”.

If the goal is to replace Mr Gordhan with someone more amenable to signing the cheques for the nuclear deal, logically soon is the time to do it.

On August 10, after the successful local government elections, the rand hit 13.20 to the dollar, its best performance this year.