The media (fin24) allegations that the Minister of Finance, Malusi Gigaba, is busy capturing the National Treasury (NT) by setting up a parallel administration in his own office, are very serious and the FF Plus does not have much faith in the Minister’s denial of it, says adv Anton Alberts, chairperson of the FF Plus.
According to the article, Gigaba brought in nearly twenty staff members for his parallel administration and they have allegedly already taken over many of the NT’s functions. Some of the staff are close to the Gupta family. Apparently senior treasury executives, who are unhappy with the situation, leaked the information to the media.
Based on the article and its allegations, adv Alberts addressed a written parliamentary question to the Minister and asked, amongst other things, whether the Minister is making any changes that may have an influence on the Director-General’s authority. (Please see questions and answer below).
The Minister denied all the allegations with a single sentence.
Adv Alberts says that the ANC government has shown itself untrustworthy time and again and that the Minister himself regularly visited the Guptas.
“In light of this, we simply cannot have any faith in the Minister’s denial of the allegations. The article contained a lot of detailed information on the matter, like the names of the relevant people. It is evident from the Minister’s answer that he is hiding something.
“The FF Plus is of the opinion that a parallel Treasury has been exposed and that Minister Gigaba and his supporters are using the investigation into the efficiency of the revenue service as a smoke screen to clean house and to deploy cadres there.
“The FF Plus will ask the Civil Service Commission to monitor the situation and to ensure that expertise is not lost and that SARS will not become even more politicized,” says adv Alberts.
Contact numbers: 082 391 3117 / 065 801 7216
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NUMBER: 3286[NW3618E]
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20 October 2017
3286. Adv A de W Alberts (FF Plus) to ask the Minister of Finance:†
(1) Whether he or any person in the Executive or in the National Treasury is making changes to the management, monitoring and compliance unit of the National Treasury; if so, what are the relevant details regarding the (a) reasons and (b) extent of the changes; if not, whether any changes are envisaged; if so,
(2) (a) what will be the full relevant particulars of the nature of the changes and (b) by what date will the changes take effect;
(3) whether he or any person in the Executive or in the National Treasury is making general changes in the National Treasury by appointing people who will amend existing authority and reporting structures and who will in any way undermine, curb or circumvent the powers of the director-general; if so, what are the relevant details of the (a) reasons and (b) extent of the changes; if not, whether any changes are envisaged; if so,
(4) (a) what will be the full relevant details of the nature of the changes and (b) by what date the changes will take effect? NW3618E
Reply:
The National Treasury is not aware of any of the alleged changes alluded to.
Read the original article by Adv Anton Alberts on FF Plus website
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