Parties calling for Abrahams' head

NPA head Shaun Abrahams made the announcement that the three be charged with fraud earlier this month. 

The initial charges relate to Pillay's early retirement pay-out.

Abrahams says he will not resign and he is not embarrassed by the turn of events today. 

"The question around whether my tenure has damaged the integrity of the NPA; I doubt that. There will always be naysayers. I certainly do not owe anybody an apology. I certainly do not," says Abrahams.

The EFF has already submitted a letter to the General Council of the Bar asking that Abrahams be disbarred and his name removed from the roll of advocates.

"The Economic Freedom Fighters believe that Mr Abrahams has violated his Constitutional ethical duties and that he is neither competent nor fit and proper to be an Advocate of the High Court," says the EFF.

The DA's Mmusi Maimane has called on President Jacob Zuma to immediately suspend Abrahams, pending an inquiry into his fitness to hold office.

"Shaun Abrahams must be held responsible for this unacceptable blunder. Questions remain regarding whether this was in fact malicious prosecution, what the consequences have been on the economy, and lastly, the damage to the reputation of the Minister of Finance," says Maimane.

The ANC has welcomed the decision taken to drop the charges. 

In a statement, the ruling party says it always believed in the innocence of Pravin Gordhan. 

The party says the action against Gordhan and the two former SARS officials "have had a negative impact on the economy and created unnecessary speculations about the real motive.” 

The ANC wants the appointing authority to engage the NPA to avoid a repeat of what has happened. 

"Now that the charges have been dropped, we must continue to build on the trajectory of economic growth as envisaged and to create jobs as outlined by the Minister of Finance, Comrade Pravin Gordhan in the recent Medium Term Budget Policy Statement," says ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has meanwhile cancelled its planned picket outside court on Wednesday. 

That was the date set aside for Gordhan to appear. 

The SACP says the NPA was bound to drop the charges, as it had no basis in law. 

The party says the charges were " ill-considered and amateurishly handled." 

Organisation Save South Africa says Hawks Head Berning Ntlemeza must resign along with Abrahams.

"Abrahams and Ntlemeza must both resign. We've made a step in stopping state capture - but we must do more," it tweeted.

Meanwhile, Freedom Under Law and the Helen Suzman Foundation say Shaun Abrahams does not understand the enormity of what the Hawks and his staff did.

The organisations say Abrahams is still not frank with the public. 

"This case has never been about the interpretation of some or other pension regulation; the charges were that our minister of finance and two former heads of SARS were crooks who had committed fraud or stolen over a million Rands of public money. Yet there never was proof of any intention to commit a crime," a statement reads. 

They say the charges were obviously bad, both in law and on any plausible reading of the facts. 

"At best, the charges were a colossal blunder. At worst, they were a ham-fisted attempt to loot the Treasury. Either way, history will not remember those responsible favourably, and they should be held to account," they say.