Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane says if Parliament does not launch an investigation into state capture by the end of October, the party will take the matter to court.
“I wrote to the speaker and said if you don’t set up the ad hoc committee by the end of October we are taking you to court,” he said.
“People can’t steal money in South Africa and walk around like nothing has happened. We can’t protest for free education while the Guptas are stealing billions and sending them to Dubai.”
Maimane was speaking at a march this morning where supporters had gathered to protest against state capture and corruption “caused by the Guptas and President Jacob Zuma”.
Braving the rain, Maimane led the march to Saxonwold with DA MP Phumzile van Damme, national spokesperson Refiloe Nt’sekhe, and DA regional chairperson Khume Ramulifho.
“Our message is clear. We reject the capture of our country by the rich and the corrupt, and we want real change.
“What South Africa needs is a new beginning. It needs to cleanse itself from the scourge of corruption that steals resources and opportunities from millions [of people],” Maimane said.
“Just a few hundred metres down the road from here is the Guptas’ mansion, the very site where Jacob Zuma and his ANC government were captured, and where they sold our country to the highest bidder.
“We are gathered here not to intimidate; we are here to ask for the freedom of our country,” he said.
The Gupta family obtained an interdict forbidding the opposition party from getting within 900 metres of their compound.
The Gupta Compound in Saxonwold is the real #JacobZumaMonument
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) October 4, 2017
A monument to corruption & unemployment.
RETWEET if you agree! pic.twitter.com/1mKkCgwSge
“The Gupta mansion is the real capture site of Jacob Zuma, and the headquarters of corruption in South Africa.
“The struggle for democracy and freedom has been abandoned by Jacob Zuma and his ANC and while they get richer, South Africans are getting poorer,” Maimane added.
Meanwhile, Zuma has being on the receiving end of a backlash from South Africans following yesterday’s unveiling of a R1.8-million monument in Groot Marico near Zeerust, North West.
The site is where Zuma and other uMkhonto weSizwe recruits were arrested by the apartheid police in 1963 as they made their way to Botswana to undergo military training.
President Jacob Zuma during the official opening of the Groot Marico Heritage Site and Liberation Heritage Route of Bokone Bophirima. pic.twitter.com/PDUUP9yfTt
— PresidencyZA (@PresidencyZA) October 4, 2017
Some residents of the small town did not welcome the monument and believed the money could have been used to develop the area, not only the site.
The DA said it was deeply saddened by the living conditions surrounding the “huge and shiny monument”, adding that residents living just a kilometre from the site had no running water.
This is in Groot Marico in the North West.
— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) October 4, 2017
There is no running water, but they have spent millions building a #JacobZumaMonument pic.twitter.com/qgiiI5CPjB