Cape Town - Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has promised to give attention to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, to submit an affidavit on her investigation into the alleged rogue unit at the SA Revenue Service (Sars).
This comes after Gordhan failed to meet the Friday deadline set by Mkhwebane to make the submission on her probe into the alleged “rogue unit” at Sars.
Mkhwebane’s investigation is looking into allegations of improper conduct, a violation of the executive ethics code, irregular and unlawful activities by Gordhan relating to his tenure as Sars commissioner.
Speaking on the sidelines of a closed public engagement, addressing issues around the ruling ANC, with members of the Chatsworth community in Durban he said the issue was being handled by his legal team.
Last month, Gordhan requested for an extension of the deadline to submit the affidavit and supporting evidence by April 23.
The extension was granted to May 3, which he failed to meet.
“It was too short a time to do all the responding and there were questions that we asked the public protector that still haven’t been responded to.
“But it’s in the hands of the lawyers. The lawyers are interacting with her office and once the elections are over we’ll give it the proper attention that it requires,” Gordhan said.
Last month Mkhwebane said Gordhan requested the extension citing a decision by the revenue collector to “procure a legal opinion on whether it would be lawful to share with implicated parties, including Minister Gordhan, certain records that are in its possession”.
At the time of granting Gordhan the extension, last month, Mkhwebane said she had done so “in the spirit of fairness” so that Gordhan could have a reasonable opportunity to gather the information that she required as some of it “goes a few years back”.