Parliament must swiftly institute an inquiry into the fitness to hold office of National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Sean Abrahams, the South African Communist Party (SACP) has said.

"The behaviour displayed by Abrahams in bringing charges against the Minister of Finance Pravin Gordhan left much to be desired. It was amateurish, to say the least," the party's political bureau said in a statement.

Gordhan, former South African Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Oupa Magashula and former deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay are due to appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on November 2. They are charged with fraud related to Gordhan and Magashula having approved an early retirement for Pillay in 2010, who was later rehired on a contract basis.

The SACP has strongly criticised Abrahams' decision to publicly announce that he is charging Gordhan and then later invite him to make representations.

It questioned why Abrahams, who spent much of the press conference earlier this month where he announced the charges talking about the alleged Sars "rogue unit", only to announce "a completely unrelated and highly defective charge".

Final appointment

"It [Abrahams' alleged behaviour] fed into concerns that state institutions were being used to target leaders who were being isolated for standing in the way of certain private interests amidst the widespread problem of corporate capture in the state and state enterprises, corruption and rent-seeking," the party said.

The SACP drew similarities between Abrahams and former National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) head Bulelani Ngcuka who announced in 2003 that the NPA had a "prima facie" case of corruption against then deputy president Jacob Zuma but had decided not to charge him.

The SACP also wants changes made to the process of appointing the NDPP to make it similar to the appointment of the Public Protector. It wants the public and Parliament to have a say before the president makes the final appointment.