Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Wednesday says the allegation that minister Pravin Gordhan abused his position to influence the appointment of his friend Dhaya Pillay could not be corroborated.
Mkhwebane investigated after a complaint by EFF MP Floyd Shivambu, alleging that Gordhan breached the executive ethics code.
“We have had to close this investigation because Mr Shivambu’s allegations could not be corroborated,” Mkhwebane said during a media briefing on Wednesday. The investigation revealed that when Gordhan and Mogoeng met at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa in Cape Town on April 6 2016, the spokesperson for the JSC had already announced the interview results and it was public knowledge that Pillay had not made it.
“It would therefore be factually or legally impossible for Mr Gordhan to have influenced the outcome of an interview that had already been concluded,” Mkhwebane said. “Mr Gordhan’s conduct could not be regarded as having been in breach of paragraphs 2.1 and and 2.3 of the executive ethics code.”