Cosatu strike should go to the Gupta compound: Mashaba

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba says Cosatu’s planned national strike on Wednesday should also go to the Gupta residence in Saxonwold.

“Unfortunately‚ COSATU’s planned strike fails to take the protest to the headquarters of state capture‚ Saxonwold at the Gupta residence‚” Mashaba said in a statement.

“If COSATU and its affiliates are determined to fight corruption‚ they must first take this fight to where corruption is planned‚ at Saxonwold.

“Under the new administration‚ we have made it clear that corruption has no place within the City. The days where corruption was punished with a slap on the wrist or by officials turning a blind eye‚ are over.”

Mashaba said since coming into office last year‚ his DA-led administration has uncovered over 2‚000 cases of corruption involving almost R15 billion.

“These cases largely occurred under the previous ANC-led administration. Through the work of City’s Group Forensics and Investigation Department‚ 451 people have been arrested‚ including employees of the City and more than 100 City employees have been suspended.”

Mashaba said his office had managed to remove all “opportunities for patronage”.

“One of these was the bringing the infamous Jozi@Work programme to an end. The Jozi@Work programme was a wolf in sheep’s clothing‚ benefitting only the middlemen who were awarded multimillion-rand contracts to run projects.”

Cosatu will be embarking on a national strike against state capture on Wednesday.

The federation has promised that the demonstration will be peaceful.

“Though this is a national strike‚ we are not anarchic. We will not be disturbing any services. We are aware that we have the potential to shut down schools‚ transport services and so forth but we won’t do that. People will be able to go to work and continue with their lives without any interruption. We actually condemn any act against the inconvenience of the people‚” said Sizwe Pamla‚ Cosatu national spokesperson.