The Gupta Cabinet reshuffle is an outrage. It is time to act! 

31 March 2017

The Cabinet reshuffle announced by President Jacob Zuma on behalf of the Gupta family is an outrage – an insult to the suffering of millions of South Africans over many decades. It is a brazen attempt to undermine the gains of the liberation struggle by taking power away from the people and handing it over to a clique based in Dubai.

It is therefore a Gupta coup and final confirmation – for those who needed it – that our President, our government and our country have been captured by compradors intent on destroying our democracy.

We cannot submit to this outrage – it is time to fight.

The Save South Africa campaign calls on all South Africans who care about their country to use this moment to say: “This far, and no further.”

We are urging every woman and man, old or young, to make their way to Pretoria and assemble at Church Square, outside the National Treasury, at 10am today to show their objection to this Gupta-inspired coup.

Bring your flags, bring your family and friends, and occupy central Pretoria. This is the only way we can stop the capture of National Treasury, and prevent the Gupta proxies from getting access to our money.

We must #OccupyTreasury. We must march to the Union Buildings, and similar marches should take place on Parliament. We must join hands in common cause and show that we are not prepared to accept any further abuse of power and the undermining of our Constitution.

The scale of the reshuffle is massive – far bigger, even, than the numbers suggest.

Firstly, the Guptas have anointed their proxies to loot National Treasury at their behest. It is clear that they intend to make their first order of business the approval of a banking licence for the Gupta proxies at Habib Bank, and then to facilitate money-laundering and illicit deals.

On top of this, they have put pliable Ministers in charge of other portfolios that are central to their grand plan:

- Nkhensani Khubayi at Energy, because they want to ram through a nuclear deal that will enrich Zuma, his family and his cronies and leave South Africa with horrendous debt for decades. She was one of the architects of the whitewash of the Nkandla report in Parliament.

- The opportunist Fikile Mbalula as Minister of Police, because they want to continue abusing the criminal justice system to protect their henchmen and hunt down their opponents.

- Transport, because the Guptas need a captured airport to facilitate their money-laundering and funnel funds offshore, and protect the PRASA looters.

We have to stand up now to defend our democracy.

We must chase Zuma and his cronies out of office. We must make this their final move. We cannot wait any longer. We must take this defence of democracy to the streets.

Get involved, South Africa. Join us in Pretoria at 10am and elsewhere, for as long as it takes.

We must all act, to Save South Africa now.

Issued by Save South Africa Campaign, 31 March 2017