Joint Press Statement: Gordhan Supplementary Affidavit

Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation have become aware that, on 20 October 2016, the National Prosecuting Authority issued a subpoena to the CEO of the Government Pensions Administration Agency, calling on him to provide, among other documents, annexures to the SARS memorandum that is the foundation of the charges against Finance Minister Gordhan, and an affidavit ‘explaining’ the approval of past requests for early retirement.

The subpoena was issued over a week after the NPA announced the decision to charge Minister Gordhan. The timing suggests a desperate, eleventh-hour attempt to prop up a prosecution that, clearly, was hopeless from the start. This is information the NPA should have gathered long before any decision to prosecute was made, and the NPA’s failure to do so underlines the irrationality and unlawfulness of its decision. This is especially so given that the information is likely to be exculpatory.

Today, attorneys for Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation served a supplementary affidavit drawing the court’s attention to the subpoena and its implications.

For the supplementary affidavit, which includes the subpoena and the press statement pertaining to our initial application to set aside the charges against Minister Gordhan, click here.