FORMER Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi has warned President Jacob Zuma to stay away from Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan.
He said South Africans sat back quietly when the Scorpions were dismantled and when ex-Hawks head Anwa Dramat and many others were removed from their jobs.
“All these people have been removed in order to steal as much as possible. There is so much stealing, it’s as if there’s a sale at Pep Stores,” he said.
Vavi was reporting on the progress of the steering committee to form a new trade union federation he has been acting as convener for.
Speaking in Joburg yesterday, Vavi said: “We are acutely aware that theft of our wealth is not just by a few families, but the entire capitalist class.”
He said he wondered whether Cosatu would even exist in five years, because it was no longer representative of the majority of workers. He said as a steering committee they would be congratulating themselves if they could reach their target of 186 unions by the end of the year.
The federation’s launch will be decided in three weeks’ time.
) Meanwhile, lawyers representing Gordhan yesterday issued a statement to say he had co-operated with the Hawks and was not acting as if he was above the law. Gildenhuys Malatji Attorneys and Gordhan yesterday responded fully to all the Hawks’ inquiries. They offered to provide any further assistance the Hawks might require, maintaining that Gordhan acted in accordance with the law.
“The minister fully and comprehensively answered all the questions put to him on 30 March despite the fact that he was not obliged to do so,” they said.
The statement said Hawks boss Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza in May wrote to Gordhan denying charges against him were being investigated.