Cosatu slams Van Rooyen for Gordhan comments
Cosatu takes aim at David van Rooyen and Kebby Maphatsoe after their remarks about Pravin Gordhan and the Hawks saga.
|||Johannesburg - The Congress of South African Trade Unions on Tuesday condemned statements by Kebby Maphatsoe of the Umkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister David van Rooyen against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, and accused the MKMVA of brewing factional battles within the tri-partite alliance.
“Cosatu is deeply disappointed by the actions of MKMVA leaders, comrades Kebby Maphatsoe and Des Van Rooyen, of publicly condemning another minister (Pravin Gordhan) using their different political hats as a justification. We find this insincere and distasteful because these ministers have many forums available at their disposal to internally discuss this matter and raise their views inside the ANC,” Cosatu said in a statement.
“These comrades are all ANC ministers serving one cabinet and one organisation, and do not need press conferences to engage and reconcile their positions. The MKMVA leadership is continuing to propagate the same factional battles of the ANC that have eroded the overwhelming support that the ANC-led alliance enjoyed amongst our people.”
Cosatu, the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress form the tri-partite alliance.
Maphatsoe, also Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, and Van Rooyen, both in their capacity as MKMVA leaders, lambasted Gordhan over the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) saga at a media briefing on Monday. Van Rooyen called on Gordhan to “stop running to the media” and present himself to the Hawks as requested.
This came in the wake of reports that the Hawks had wrapped up their probe into the activities of the SA Revenue Services’ so-called “rogue unit” and would soon bring charges against Gordhan. The unit was established while Gordhan was SARS commissioner. He had refused to present himself to the Hawks as summoned last week and said there was no legal obligation for him to do so.
Van Rooyen was briefly appointed as finance minister in December last year, only to be replaced by Gordhan after a rand rout.
AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY