Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan was close to tears on Friday when he spoke about his recent stand-off with the Hawks.
The minister was speaking at the Daily Maverick’s The Gathering in Midrand, about the state of South Africa’s economy.
He said he had never taken a cent of public money, and teared up when asked to respond to reports he was facing arrest by the Hawks.
“I have nothing to hide and nothing to worry about. If they want to do something, I suppose we have good courts,” he said.
But Hawks head Berning Ntlemeza wrote to Pravin’s lawyers stating the minister wasn’t a suspect in the SA Revenue Services “rogue unit” and no decision had been taken to arrest him.
He rubbished reports as being “malicious and false”.
Pravin said the rumours were “distressing and a transparent attempt to intimidate” him.