Vavi takes Zuma and Guptas to task

Zwelinzima Vavi lashed out at the Guptas on Tuesday‚ likening them to a “typical hyena family. We have a task to stop a march towards a kleptocratic capitalist order that is going to be governed by the predatory.”

Labour leader Zwelinzima Vavi lashed out on Tuesday at the Guptas‚ likening them to a “typical hyena family”.

“We have a task to stop a march towards a kleptocratic capitalist order that is going to be governed by the predatory‚” he said. “[Leaders that have] links to the first family‚ the typical hyena family. This family eats first and then everyone else follows.”

Vavi‚ who was taking part in a panel discussion in Tshwane‚ the theme of which was, Is the post-apartheid state unravelling‚ referred to President Jacob Zuma’s rhetoric of radical economic transformation as a “lie” and said that Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba did not represent any meaningful transformation.

According to Vavi‚ Pravin Gordhan‚ the former finance minister, was removed “so we could have nuclear and waste money of taxpayers to save the SABC‚ capture SAA‚ so that PetroSA could be captured and used as an instrument to make money and the capture of Eskom to benefit the Guptas”.

While public sentiment has turned against Zuma‚ panellist Andile Mngxitama‚ leader of the Black First Land First group, said that the president had recently embraced radical economic transformation that favoured black people.

The Guptas were at least keeping their capital inside SA‚ he said, unlike some wealthy South African families who were quick to expatriate it.