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As the story about the NPA’s pursuit of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan develops the plot seems to be taking a strange twist following President Jacob Zuma’s indication that he is willing to suspend the head of the prosecution authority Shaun Abrahams.
Zuma has written a letter to Abrahams, asking the director of public prosecutions to state reasons why he should not be suspended. Abrahams has been given 14 days to respond. Zuma’s decision is based on the manner in which Abrahams dealt with the Gordhan matter. Instead of going ahead with Gordhan’s prosecution, Abrahams made a turn about two weeks ago and stated that he did not see the reasons to go ahead with the prosecution.
It is interesting how Abrahams justified his decision not to go ahead with the prosecution. He stated that his decision was based on the pre-trial review process he undertook after the two accused, Oupa Magashula and Ivan Pillay, approached him and asked for review of the decision to prosecute them together with Gordhan. Before Abrahams made a plea for the accused to come forth and request a review from him, it became clear to me that Abrahams was looking for a dignified way out of this mess.
