Zuma’s son guns for ’Pravin and co’
PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma’s son‚ Edward‚ has launched a scathing attack on Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan‚ accusing him of having “shares everywhere”‚ using his connections to make a profit and trying to sell South African Airways to a relative.
He did not provide supporting evidence for his allegations.
The Treasury is being contacted for comment.
In a statement issued yesterday‚ Edward said: “I want to air my view on how brutal and greedy some of our leaders have become as they clearly don’t have the interests of the people [at heart].
“These leaders are in government‚ private sector‚ religious leaders‚ civil societies and many other structures of the country.
“These greedy people don’t give a damn about the livelihoods of the people of this country whatsoever; they are thieves who are sucking the wealth of this country using their relationships with these leaders, who in return have business interests in almost everything that is profit-making.
“For example‚ Pravin Gordhan‚ our much-loved finance minister‚ has shares everywhere and there are those who don’t see anything wrong with that but rather turn a blind eye because the country is being threatened by the unprogressive and questionable rating agencies.”
In his letter‚ which he signed off as being in his personal capacity‚ he accused “Pravin and company” of continuing to sell and privatise state-owned enterprises and companies to their friends and masters – “and they again hide behind profitability‚ yet they deliberately run down these institutions so as to sell to their friends or children, as has been seen at the SAA debacle.
“They tried to sell SAA to a company where Gordhan’s relative or daughter has interests. What a coincidence. And that plan is still on‚ led by Pravin himself.”
Edward claimed that Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas – who accused the Gupta family of offering him R600-million to “work with us” – were using the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) as their own playground.
“This institution . . . is their base and playground for total control and capture of the country‚ as the likes of Shoprite Checkers‚ Bidvest‚ white fund managers and many more Jewish-based entities are running the show . . . with the help of the government officials who have shares in the companies that get money from the PIC.” — TMG