‘The Untouchables’: Pravin Gordhan remains safe despite costing SA billions – expert

There is little prospect of action being taken against Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan because President Cyril Ramaphosa is beholden to him, according to an expert.

Political analyst Sandile Swana said Gordhan is “untouchable” because he is Ramaphosa’s main political protector and a darling of big business.

However, some members of the business community were fed up with the minister.

Swana said although Gordhan had become a liability to the nation and was costing the country’s economy in the region of R3 billion to R7 billion a day, he is safe in his position because he is in the president’s inner circle, which brought Ramaphosa into power at Nasrec in 2017 and later for a second term at Nasrec last year.

Swana alleged Gordhan was part of a clique that continued to prop up Ramaphosa.

He cited members of the clique as Gordhan, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, ANC national chair and Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Gwede Mantashe and former Cabinet minister Derek Hanekom.

Gordhan’s spokesperson, Ellis Mnyandu, and Mantashe did not respond to queries sent to them about the matter.

But Hanekom, who did not deny that he was in Ramaphosa’s inner circle, rejected Swana’s claim of untouchable members in the Ramaphosa camp.

“Well, Mr Swana is entitled to his opinion. I have no idea what he said about what happened during the period of state capture and the damage that was done.

“No-one is untouchable – I was far more central to the CR (Cyril Ramaphosa) campaign, but I was not retained in the Cabinet that was appointed in 2019,” he said.

Swana said the group had protected Ramaphosa against the Phala Phala allegations and the president’s failure to act against Gordhan and Mantashe over Bosasa allegations was payback for their protection.

He said at Nasrec, Ramaphosa had to be propped up to the presidency by Gordhan and the others.

“Pravin Gordhan, Fikile Mbalula, Gwede Mantashe, Derek Hanekom and a few others were part of the team that propped up Ramaphosa,” Swana said.

“Gordhan has been a liability for a long time. But you must remember that somebody who is a liability to the nation has some political capital among the elite, for instance the president and business community,” he said.

Supporters in the business community were fair-weather friends, he claimed, citing the removal of poorly performing executives at Transnet last week.

They were also gunning for Gordhan but lost the fight because he is Ramaphosa’s right-hand man. Analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said while allegations of being “untouchable” were speculative, the buck stopped with Ramaphosa as president, should one of his ministers fail in his job.

“Ramaphosa campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket. He has to act where necessary.

“I reckon when push comes to shove, he has to redeploy the minister to another department because there is too much noise in public enterprises,”

Ndlovu said. Swana insisted Ramaphosa “doesn’t have a constituency”.

“NUM (the National Union of Mineworkers which Ramaphosa led as secretary-general in the 1980s), is dying a natural death.

“Cyril doesn’t have a constituency that we know of in Chiawelo, Soweto – his home – and he doesn’t have a constituency that we know of anywhere,” Swana said.

Gordhan, he said, had been surviving because big business liked him for his neoliberal policies and pro-privatisation attitude, but ignored his negative impact on the economy.

“So he is a liability, but that business has been ambivalent towards him is also (because) he is a political bodyguard of Cyril,” Swana said.

Hanekom insisted Ramaphosa’s supporters were not spared of his action.

“To be balanced, many of the president’s supporters would have been perplexed by the retention of some ministers who campaigned against him, and even more so that no action was taken against Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and People with Disabilities Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma after she called on him to resign and broke ranks in parliament.

“Is she also untouchable? If so, that would defeat the argument,” Hanekom said.