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S.Africa prosecutor denies dropping minister fraud case

South Africa’s prosecutor on Sunday denied reports he had decided to drop a fraud case against Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

“It is absolute hogwash. That is the biggest lot of rubbish I have ever seen or heard,” spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku told AFP after City Press daily said prosecutor Shaun Abrahams had penned a letter indicating his intention to drop the charges.

City Press said the letter would be sent to Gordhan’s defence team before his scheduled court appearance Wednesday.

But Mfaku told AFP Abrahams was “considering the matter”.

“He will decide soon.”

Gordhan, who first served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014, faces prosecution for alleged misconduct over a retirement package paid to a colleague in 2010.

He was re-appointed to the position last December to calm panicked investors after President Jacob Zuma sacked two finance ministers within four days.

But since then, he has regularly clashed with senior ANC figures after pledging to battle poor governance and to reform cash-bleeding state-run entities.

A vocal opponent of corruption, he says the case against him is politically motivated, with many analysts saying he has been targeted by Zuma loyalists.

The case has helped to drive a wedge between rival camps in the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

Several leading ANC heavyweights, including vice president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and chief whip Jackson Mthembu, have spoken out in Gordhan’s defence as have some 80 business leaders who back his plans to revive the economy.

Several opposition parties, as well as a number of leading ANC figures, have pledged to join a rally on Wednesday outside the Pretoria court overseeing the case against Gordhan in a show of support for the minister.