Pravin Gordhan was the second Cabinet official to face heckling at a symposium this week, but this time around, it was the minister who got booted.
Pravin Gordhan ‘state capture 2.0’ speech disrupted by Wits students
The public enterprise minister turned up at the Wits University School of Governance lecture hall to lead a keynote address about reforming South Africa’s frail state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
Much of Gordhan’s speech was less about accountability and recognising culpability in the gradual destruction of state parastatals like South African Airways (SAA), which was recently sold to Takatso Consortium, and Eskom, the embattled national power supplier currently undergoing privatisation.
According to the minister, the government is still dealing with the second coming of state capture and rooting out figures within the administration “who perhaps don’t want these SOEs to find themselves on the right track.”
“So we have gotten rid of one set of thugs and rogues. They are not in orange uniforms yet, as they should be. But is it the case that we have created a vacuum, through political and other means, for the presence of people who actually want to continue with extracting resources from the state for their own purposes?” he asked.
However, the minister’s question was met with resounding groans from the audience, and very quickly, what was supposed to be an intellectual dialogue dissolved into chaos.
Students and other guests grabbed the mic to voice their discontent with Gordhan and his refusal to acknowledge his role in the collapse of SOEs. Much like it was witnessed earlier this week when Action Society’s Ian Cameron owned Police Minister Bheki Cele at an anti-crime symposium in Cape Town, students took turns dishing out the vitriol to Gordhan, who was forced to exit the lecture before things got too heated.
His response to the heckling?
“You are the paid servants of the people I am talking about, people who want corruption to continue. All of you, you speak the same language. Now just remember, you are not going to intimidate us,” he exclaimed before being ushered away.
Here are some of the video clips doing the rounds on social media on the events that transpired at the Wits University School of Governance.
Pravin Gordan met young Lions there by Wits and they engaged him appropriately. #Aykhale pic.twitter.com/JuHyLZ2Unk
— TK_Nala (@NalaThokozane) July 7, 2022
Nkateko Muloiwa, a master’s candidate at wits University asks minister Gordhan why he refuses to take accountability of state capture. He says Pravin was finance minister in the Zuma years. He’s call for accountability was acknowledged by students as they disrupted the lecture. pic.twitter.com/4HwcXdeKx8
— Kanakana_Mudzanani (@Kanakanalive) July 7, 2022
Wits Business School students just kicked Pravin and his Department out of a lecture he was delivering because he couldn't answer their questions. And he was generally being arrogant. pic.twitter.com/IaB59zcjVH
— Lusanda (@LoveLusanda) July 7, 2022
That Pravin lecture🤣🤣. The fun starts at the hour mark. Go watchhttps://t.co/Skpnvle87J pic.twitter.com/pfhIqjJGQ1
— Nhlanhla (@SankaraSobukwe) July 7, 2022
Pravin Must Go!!
— Izwe Lethu (@LandNoli) July 7, 2022
Pravin amust Go!!
Pravin Gordhan was delivering a lecture at Wits on reforming SOEs #PhalaPhalaGateFarm #NationalShutdown pic.twitter.com/ZVyoSQEBjq
