The new mayor of Johannesburg wants President Jacob Zuma to explain why the Hawks are focusing on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.

“The president, the government, owe it to the people of South Africa to take us into their confidence, to tell us what is really happening here. Something is not right. They are not doing our country a favour,” Herman Mashaba told News24 on Wednesday.

He said he was devastated and angry to hear that the Hawks had instructed Gordhan to present himself to them, so they could take a warning statement from him.

The unit wanted to question him regarding his alleged contraventions of the National Strategic Intelligence Act and Public Finance Management Act. These related to his approval, as finance minister, of South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Ivan Pillay's early retirement in 2010, and to the creation of an intelligence unit within Sars.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gordhan said he had taken legal advice and had no obligation to present himself to the Hawks. He said he should be left to do his job in a difficult economic environment.

Gordhan was Sars commissioner between 1999 and 2009. During this period a so-called rogue unit was allegedly established, which was allegedly involved in illegal intelligence gathering.

Mashaba hoped and trusted that Gordhan would survive the controversy.

“He has demonstrated to be a very strong individual, a man of integrity.”

If the saga continued, it could have dire effects on the country’s economy and the currency, Mashaba said.