Zuma's bogus intelligence in the spotlight
In his final press conference as finance minister, Pravin Gordhan lambasted shoddy 'intelligence report' apparently used as a pretext by President Jacob Zuma for firing him. Read it here
In his final press conference as finance minister, Pravin Gordhan lambasted the shoddy "intelligence report" apparently used as a pretext by President Jacob Zuma for firing him. Speaking at treasury, Gordhan held up a print-out of the report and described it as "absolute nonsense". This accords with the views of others who have weighed in on the issue in the last few days. Notably, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday said the dubious report carried a number of "unsubstantiated allegations". Ramaphosa said it was "totally, totally unacceptable" for Zuma to fire his finance minister, based on such a flimsy report. "My strong objection (is) to the removal of minister of finance and his deputy based on spurious allegations". Not only is this the strongest statement yet by the deputy president on the actions of his immediate superior, it is also the first on-the-record confirmation that this report was raised by Zuma as one of the reasons why he wanted to axe Gordhan in a meeting ...
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