Zuma’s ‘useful idiots’ are being flushed out every day: Maimane

 ·2 Nov 2016

Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance says that while South Africa’s democracy is under attack, the good guys are winning.

Maimane, speaking outside the North Gauteng High Court in Tshwane on Wednesday, said that president Jacob Zuma “is doing his very best to help the Guptas plunder even more of our money”.

“That’s his part of the robbery deal – to hand the crooks the keys to the safe and then look the other way.”

“But let me be clear here,” Maimane said. “State Capture cannot be blamed on one crooked family. The Guptas just spotted the opportunity and took it. If they hadn’t, Jacob Zuma’s ANC would have found another willing co-conspirator.

“We are being robbed by the very people who are meant to look after us. But judging by the events of the past week, things aren’t going so well for the bad guys.”

He noted that National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Shaun Abrahams was forced into an ‘embarrassing’ about-turn on the trumped-up charges against Minister Pravin Gordhan.

“And yesterday Zuma and his co-captured suffered yet another court defeat in the State Capture Report case.

“Yes, our country is under attack. But make no mistake – the good guys are winning,” Maimane said.

The DA leader said that built into the country’s Constitution is the principle of accountability. “Even if the corrupt elite don’t agree, the rest of us do. It is our duty to defend the Constitution and demand this accountability.”

Maimane said that Abrahams’ ‘foolish actions’ have already made South Africans poorer.

“But if Shaun Abrahams thinks he’s off the hook because he dropped the charges against Minister Gordhan, he must think again.

“Shaun Abrahams only dropped these charges because the pressure from all sides was unbearable. Not because he had a change of heart. Not because he applied his mind. He did it because he had no choice.”

Maimane accused Abrahams of being a pawn in Zuma’s game, “and when he’s no longer useful he will join his discarded comrades under the bus”.

He said that the situation with the captured NPA is a ‘real mess’, “but there is one positive to have come out of it: captured cadres are being flushed out in droves”.

“Under the glare of the spotlight of our courts, people like Shaun Abrahams cannot hide. He has no choice but to show the world who he is and what he is.

“He is what is known as a ‘useful idiot’ – someone who is used by powerful players to fight their battles for them.

“But Shaun Abrahams is by no means the only useful idiot hanging around Zuma and the Guptas. There are plenty more, and they too are being flushed out every day,” Maimane said.

The opposition party lead said that on Tuesday a full bench of the North Gauteng High Court sent Zuma and two more of Zuma’s ‘useful idiots’ packing when they ordered that the DA’s application to intervene in the State Capture case be granted with costs.

“The good guys are winning, while Zuma and his crooked cronies continue to lose,” Maimane said.

More on state capture

Zuma withdraws application to block state capture report

Guptas will make state capture report ‘useless’ for at least 2 years: report

The questions Zuma won’t answer on state capture

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