DA to march to the Gupta compound over state capture

The Democratic Alliance will on Thursday march to the Gupta compound in Johannesburg to protest state capture and corruption.

“The DA leader [Mmusi Maimane] will lead a march to the capture site of Jacob Zuma in Saxonwold in protest against state capture and grand corruption carried out by Zuma‚ his ANC and the Gupta family‚” Maimane’s spokesperson Portia Adams said on Thursday.

“We are saying that while many South Africans fought for a free and democratic South Africa‚ our progress has been stalled over the past decade as our country has been captured by a small group of connected cronies who continuously raid public money to make themselves rich.”

Adams said Zuma and the ANC have been captured by the Gupta family‚ who have become billionaires while more than half of South Africans are trapped in poverty.

“Our country needs a change. It needs a new beginning and we need a government committed to fighting for the poor and the jobless and not the rich and the connected few‚” said Adams.

The march will start at 10am from the corner of Jan Smuts Avenue and Erlswold Way.

Some Twitter users have welcomed the march and have vowed to join the DA‚ while others have labelled the party “hypocritical”.

Last week‚ union federation Cosatu held marches around the country over state capture and called for Zuma to step down.

And in April tens of thousands of people across the country protested against Zuma.

One protest that took place outside the Gupta family compound degenerated into fisticuffs when Black First Land First members arrived.

The Gupta family‚ business friends of Zuma's‚ have been accused of using their influence to secure lucrative state contracts for their companies.