Former general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions Zwelinzima Vavi has lashed out at the Guptas‚ likening them to a “typical hyena family”.

“We have a task to stop a march towards a kleptocratic capitalist order that is going to be governed by the predatory‚” he said. “Leads that are links to the first family‚ the typical hyena family. This family eats first‚ and then everyone else follows.”

Vavi‚ who was taking part in a panel discussion in Tshwane‚ the theme of which was “Is the post-apartheid state unravelling“‚ referred to the president’s rhetoric of radical economic transformation as a ‘lie’ and said that newly-appointed Minister of Finance Malusi Gigaba did not represent any meaningful transformation.

According to Vavi‚ Pravin Gordhan‚ the former minister of finance was removed “so we could have nuclear and waste money of taxpayers to save the SABC‚ capture SAA‚ so that Petro SA could be captured and used as an instrument to make money the capture of Eskom to benefit the Guptas”.

While public sentiment has turned against the embattled president in recent weeks‚ another panellist‚ Andile Mngxitama‚ took the position that Zuma has actually recently embraced radical economic transformation that favours black people.

Mngxitama‚ who is the leader of the Black First Land First group‚ was quick to defend the Gupta family‚ saying they at least keep their capital inside the country‚ unlike some other wealthy South African families‚ who are quick to expatriate it.

 “The South African white capital has repatriated to Europe. The Oppenheimers are no longer here‚ Johan Rupert has stolen and taken money out of the country‚” he said.

 “In contrast‚ the Guptas are the localised capital — the Gupta money is here.”