The Gupta-Zuma relationship is stinking

4 May 2016

Where is Collen Maine ? He has gone to ground. He is now scared of explaining how he funded his R5.4 million luxury mansion. Congress of the People and the people of the country want to hear his explanation on the serious allegations that Mr Zuma's friends, the Gupta family, are helping him pay his monthly instalments of R140,000 pm on his bond on his house. It will not help him to hide from the public. This ghost will haunt him in whichever dark place he is hiding.

The truth has to come out.

It is common cause that Mr Zuma publicly accepted that the Guptas are his close friends and that he sees nothing wrong in that. The problem with this unholy relation is that it is busy destroying the good reputation and image of our country. It is also destroying innocent men and women.

COPE is very certain that this allegation against Collen Maine is the tip of the iceberg. More scandals will be unearthed and that is the enormous value of a free and unfettered press. Those little ‘skeletons’ that President of the ANC Women's League is so passionate about keeping in the cupboard will fall out one by one. The entire system of government is corrupted and there is not one strong person in today’s ANC willing to speak out against it.

Maine certainly cannot sustain his new lifestyle through his current earnings. There is a very strong likelihood of malfeasance on his part.

The need for a lifestyle audit of key personnel in government is long overdue.

The ruling party has become extremely odorous with the stench of corruption, backhanders and rent seeking. Corruption is made to thrive because the ruling party uses power to shield corruption and to protect individuals at the centre of corruption. The higher up one is on the ruling party ladder, the safer one is from the long arm of the law.

As usual, the vociferous Gwede Mantashe has lost his tongue. The Collen Maine case is crying out for internal investigation but there is no response from the corrupt ruling party. It will seek to allow this new scandal to blow over.

People are beyond getting sick and tired of the abuse of power by Zuma and his cronies. They are using their positions for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.  Decency and morality have flown out the window. A vote for the ruling party is a vote for the further raping of South Africa.

COPE urges the Hawks to investigate the circumstances surrounding the purchase of the luxury mansion by Collen Maine.

Issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE Spokesperson, 4 May 2016