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”.
Siyaya Saxonwold noma besidubula @Our_DA will be visiting the site of #StateCapture in Saxonwold .Woza nawe
— People's servant (@tsepomhlongo) October 5, 2017
@ThabisoTema decisions that affect our country are taken in that Saxonwold house, hence we are going there. @nramulifho is very correct
— Makashule Gana 🇿🇦 (@Makashule) October 5, 2017
DA is very hypocritical. They were up in arms when BLF protested at that Editors home. However, they want to do the same today at Saxonwold
— Chocolat Politico (@Ntebo_Tsehla) October 5, 2017
#POWERBreakfast Zwane already knows who will be the next president and Da marching #saxonwold to fetch the files. Maimane wa phapha mara.
— George Mokwena (@GmMokwena) October 5, 2017
what u are going to see at the ANC headquarters aka saxonwold is black on black violence DA must stop this nonsense #POWERBreakfast
— asolife (@AAsolife) October 5, 2017
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.