A lecture by Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan turned into chaos on Thursday evening, 7 July 2022, after Wits University students questioned him about the state of governance in the country.
The Minister had to be whisked away by security guards when an event he was addressing descended into chaos with some students hurling racist comments and hurling insults at him.
Gordhan was delivering a lecture at the Wits School of Governance on the reforming of state-owned entities. As the proceedings began, a group led by a man called Douglas Ngobeni from the Congress of SA Students disrupted the proceedings and began insulting the minister.
Gordhan’s speech mainly dealt with what he called the emerging force in politics and society that wanted to return the country back to corruption and bring in a new form of state capture.
“We need to be frank with you and say there are a number of countervailing forces that will say SOEs must remain in the old form. They should be open to political management, but they should also remain in a situation which makes them vulnerable to further forms of extraction and what I refer to as State Capture Version Two,” Gorhan said.
“What we have at the moment is all sorts of new narratives being put out, fake news being put out, masking of true intent taking place in one form or another in order to facilitate State Capture Version Two.”
A Master’s student at Wits confronted Gordhan about state capture, asking why he refused to take accountability. Gordhan was part of Former President Jacob Zuma’s cabinet during that period. The group that disturbed the proceedings called for the resignation of both Gordhan and Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter.