South Africa’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has received a summons to appear in court on charges of fraud.<\/p>\n
It relates to allegations of misconduct when he was in charge of the country’s tax collection service a decade ago.<\/p>\n
Mr Gordhan has said the allegations are wholly unfounded and are politically motivated.<\/p>\n
The summons requires him to appear in court on 2 November, which is after his budget policy statement due later this month.<\/p>\n
The fraud charges relate to alleged severance payments made to two senior executives at the South African Revenue Service (SARS), when it was under Mr Gordhan’s leadership 10 years ago.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Shaun Abrahams also told a news conference that Mr Gordhan was being investigated for his role in setting up a surveillance unit at the tax department around the same time.<\/p>\n
Mr Gordhan has previously described that allegation as political mischief and has accused the special police unit conducting the investigation, known as the Hawks, of trying to intimidate him.<\/p>\n
Mr Abrahams denied there had been any political interference in the matter.<\/p>\n
Analysis: Farouk Chothia, BBC News<\/strong><\/p>\n South Africa’s finance ministry once had a reputation for being immune from corruption, and the political shenanigans in the governing African National Congress (ANC).<\/p>\n But that changed last year when South Africa had three finance ministers in a week.<\/p>\n Analysts saw President Jacob’s Zuma attempt to install David van Rooyen – a political lightweight – as finance minister in December as a power grab by a corrupt elite. They were defeated, with Mr Zuma forced to appoint Pravin Gordhan.<\/p>\n The new minister warned of South Africa turning into a kleptocracy, and pointedly distanced himself from Mr Zuma’s business allies.<\/p>\n But now Mr Gordhan faces a charge of fraud – and the courts will decide whether he was masquerading as a champion of good governance or, as he claims, is the victim of political mischief.<\/p>\n He will probably become the first government minister in South Africa to be tried while in office – unless Mr Zuma fires him before then.<\/p>\n Either way, it sets the scene for more political and financial turmoil in a country which was a beacon of hope for all of Africa when Nelson Mandela became its first black president in 1994, ending white-minority rule.<\/p>\n Markets rattled<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Gordhan’s efforts to rein in government spending have won him respect in the financial markets.<\/p>\n News of his summons rattled the markets and the South African rand fell more than 3%.<\/p>\n When President Zuma sacked Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister in December replacing him with David van Rooyen, the widely-criticised move sent the rand to record lows and caused the stock market to tumble.<\/p>\n Within a few days Mr Gordhan was appointed in Mr van Rooyen’s place – a move designed to quell market discontent and restore some confidence.<\/p>\n Many analysts believe that President Jacob Zuma would like to replace Mr Gordhan, who had previously served as South Africa’s finance minister from 2009 until 2014.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has received a summons to appear in court on charges of fraud. It relates to allegations of misconduct when he was in charge of the country’s tax collection service a decade ago. Mr Gordhan has said the allegations are wholly unfounded and are politically motivated. The summons requires him […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[107],"tags":[172,3,12534],"yoast_head":"\n