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Cape Town – Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel on Thursday publicly threw his weight behind Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
At a parliamentary meeting with the Portfolio Committee on Economic Development, Patel said in response to a question that he has worked closely with Gordhan to draft a mini budget that will give the correct signals to investors and credit rating agencies.
Although Patel did not refer to the Hawks charges Gordhan currently faces, he said: “Let me just say this: his integrity is beyond reproach and we want him to deliver the medium-term budget policy framework.”
Earlier in the week, Tourism Minister Derek Hanekom also came out in support of Gordhan, who was summoned to appear in court on November 2 on charges of fraud and theft.
Besides Patel and Hanekom, ANC heavyweights Ahmed Kathrada, former cabinet minister Barbara Hogan, former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe and former national assembly speaker Max Sisulu also conveyed their support for Gordhan.
Cartel behaviour
While briefing parliament on Thursday on his department’s annual report of 2015/17, Patel said a World Bank study showed that if big corporations are stopped from forming cartels it could lift 200 000 people out of poverty.
He was responding to a question from DA MP Michael Cardo, who wanted to know from Patel if the implementation of legislation dealing with cartel conduct was working? “Is it not deterring companies from coming forward to expose such behaviour?” Cardo asked.
In April this year, government gazetted a Presidential Proclamation, which made it a criminal offence for directors or managers of companies to collude with their competitors to fix prices.
Patel said the current leniency provisions in competition laws - according to which companies who blow the whistle on cartel activities or cooperate with investigations get off with a lighter sentence – still prevail and has incentivised people to come forward. “To such an extent that we could break open some of these cartels.”
According to him, government couldn’t continue with the existing penalty regime, as the transgressing companies could take court rulings on appeal which dragged out the legal process to such an extent that the original transgressors would have often left the company, leaving their successors to deal with the matter.
“We hope the new provisions will stop cartel and collusive behaviour,” Patel said.
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