Give us another one, Pravin, we know where it’s at

I refer to public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan’s appearance before parliament’s standing committee on public accounts to answer former Eskom CEO André de Ruyter’s allegations.

It seemed the tenor of the meeting in terms of Gordhan’s testimony and MPs who asked questions was to castigate De Ruyter and scapegoat him for problems at Eskom.

Characterising the investigation [initiated by De Ruyter] as being motivated politically in the lead-up to the elections and castigating business for supporting it is problematic.

We are all frustrated about the lack of effective action to address the energy crisis and the inability of the police and security services to vigorously pursue corruption allegations. How else is it possible to proceed and bring the horrendous levels of corruption to light than with a private investigation?

No-one held Gordhan to account regarding why he did nothing to probe allegations when they were brought to his attention. He notes how supposedly concerned he is about corruption, but is completely dismissive of the serious allegations presented to him. Why did he do nothing?

What the ANC and government are so unhappy about is that the cesspit at Eskom has been exposed and they are desperately trying to deflect attention.

Unfortunately, parliament is again abdicating its role of holding the executive to account. It shows just how corrupt the government is and how ineffective parliament is in carrying out its constitutional mandate.

We are not fooled by this scapegoating, Mr Gordhan! It is unbecoming. — Thinker and Doer, on BusinessLIVE

Bluster, misdirection and playing the man (not the ball) pretty much sums up public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan’s performance before the standing committee on public accounts. — None, on BusinessLIVE