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Johannesburg - It’s the economy, stupid: 7 times business people and politicians shocked us in 2017
"Let the rand fall, we will pick it up."- Minister Nomvula Mokonyane (4 April 2017)
Mokonyane, the minister of water affairs and sanitation, and President Jacob Zuma loyalist, infamously defended the president's dramatic cabinet reshuffle, the subsequent ratings downgrades and rand tumbling at a rally in Ekurhuleni in early April.
She was later chastised by newly appointed Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba who asked his cabinet colleagues to keep their heads down about economic issues.
“It had nothing to do with me… I don’t care if you believe it or not.” - Lord Timothy Bell (4 September 2017)
Co- founder of disgraced London PR firm Bell Pottinger responded to a grilling during BBC’s Newsnight about his involvement in the Gupta account and the slogan “White Monopoly Capital”, saying he’d resigned from the company in August 2016, over their dealings with the family.
His cellphone rang twice during the live interview in which the presenter asked Lord Bell about an email in January 2016 describing a trip to South Africa to meet the Guptas as a success.
The email also said the company would earn £100 000 a month with interest and costs and that Lord Bell would oversee this deal.
“We have collected revenue, met the target and surpassed the target. And we are proud of the work.” – Tom Moyane (18 September 2017)
The South African Revenue Services (SARS) commissioner made the remark at a press conference criticising audit firm KPMG for withdrawing part of its “flawed” report into the so called SARS “rouge unit”.
A R50.8bn tax shortfall for 2017/2018 was announced by the Treasury in the Medium Term Budget speech in October and Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba requested President Jacob Zuma set up a judicial commission of inquiry to investigate the reasons behind the revenue under collection.
“We made several errors of judgement and process.” - McKinsey & Company (17 October 2017)
Following an internal inquiry, the international consultancy firm admitted in a statement that it hadn’t followed due process in its R1.6bn tender to turnaround Eskom, which saw it pay over R500m to Gupta linked Trillian Capital, without a signed contract.
McKinsey promised to tighten up its administrative processes, pay the R1.6bn back to Eskom and only contract for further state work, with the approval of an internal risk committee.
However no employees were fired or disciplined. Senior partner Vikas Sagar, who instructed the payment be made to Trillian, resigned.
“I believe that Eskom deliberately lied to me about the Trillian matter. It was not a matter that came to me at any stage for approval.” - Minister Lynne Brown (22 November 2017)
The Minister of Public Enterprises told MPs that she’d been lied to about the payments to Gupta linked Trillian Capital and former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe by the power utility’s board.
Nevertheless, she reappointed interim chair Zethemba Khoza as board chairperson until Eskom’s AGM in 2018. The new board is made up of seven of the interim non-executive directors, Brown claims lied to her and two new people.
“All [investors] expressed their willingness to comply with the Revised Charter." - Minister Mosebenzi Zwane (6 September 2017)
The minister of mineral resources reassured the industry, at a mining conference in Australia that both foreign and local investors backed Mining Charter III.
The Chamber of Mines will challenge the new regulations in court mid-February and has warned of a loss of investor confidence due to policy uncertainty in the capital intensive industry. The implementation of the revised charter has been suspended, pending the outcome of the court case.
"I'm sure the judicial commission of inquiry … it's one of the issues it will have to clarify, to say it was all fake, political, just painting black a particular family and a particular few individuals”. – President Jacob Zuma (13 November 2017)
In an interview with TV channel ANN7, Zuma claimed that the Gupta family, was being targeted unfairly in the myriad of allegations of state capture contained in the leaked emails.
In his legal arguments in October, Zuma committed to setting up a commission of inquiry into state capture, within 30 days, provided he could choose the judge and determine the terms of reference.
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