Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan
Luyolo Mkentane
FINANCE Minister Pravin Gordhan has thrown down the gauntlet at those who violate the constitution.
He also lashed out at “greedy and selfish” leaders who brazenly looted state coffers and disregarded democratic institutions holding the country back from the precipice of a dismal future.
The recent Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla was testimony to the “vibrancy and resilience of our democratic institutions, and all of us should be proud of them”, he said.
Gordhan was speaking at the funeral service of Umkhonto we Sizwe Struggle veteran Shirish Nanabhai at Gandhi Hall in Lenasia, south of Johannesburg, yesterday.
“The constitution that we have is the embodiment of a social contract that we have with our people. Once our actions are seen to be contrary to this important document of our democracy, you must know that we have moved away from our duty to serve our people,” he said.
He called on people to “rediscover and reclaim” the ANC’s original purpose of unity, non-racialism, non-sexism and prosperity for all – “and not for the few”.
Gordhan was critical of endemic corruption that had infiltrated some sectors of society: “For instance, democratic institutions and the well-being of our people are trampled upon in pursuit of self-aggrandisement. Today, it’s not enough to steal R1 million, you must have R10 (million), and when you have R10 (million), you must have R100 (million).”
He said many democratic institutions were being tested. “They are also being influenced, or attempts are being made to influence them. Our task is to improve and strengthen and not undermine these institutions and weaken them.”
The minister said these institutions stood between anarchy and collective prosperity, and called on leaders to build their integrity, “so that future generations understand what is right and what is wrong; what is acceptable and what isn’t; what contributes to our collective good, and what contributes only to individual good”.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura, who addressed Nanabhai’s funeral service in his capacity as the ANC’s provincial deputy chairperson, said the party had always taken good decisions in the past.
“Many of us know that… when the ANC was going to consider what next to do, we knew the ANC would act in the best interest of the people and the country. The question we need to ask ourselves is whether we can say that today,” he said.
Makhura said they would do everything in their power to rescue the ANC from itself and ensure that it “doesn’t lose touch with what South Africans feel, (because) if it does that it will cease to be the ANC. Loyalty to our nation and loyalty to the people is more than just loyalty to the ANC itself”.