President Jacob Zuma’s eldest son‚ Edward‚ who has gained notoriety for springing to his father’s defence, has lashed out at Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, accusing him of being corrupt.

In a statement released on Friday morning in his personal capacity, Edward accused the minister of having “shares everywhere” and alleged that Gordhan was trying to use his connections to make a profit by trying to sell the state-owned airline, South African Airways, to a relative.

“I want to air my view on how brutal and greedy some of our leaders have become, as they clearly don’t have the interests of the people [at heart]. These leaders are in government‚ private sector‚ religious leaders‚ civil societies and many other structures of the country.

“These greedy people don’t give a damn about the livelihoods of the people of this country whatsoever; they are thieves who are sucking the wealth of this country using their relationships with these leaders, who in return have business interests in almost everything that is profit making,” reads the statement.

Without proving any supporting evidence to substantiate his allegations against Gordhan, Zuma also criticised global credit-rating agencies, accusing them of holding the country’s economy at ransom.

“For example‚ Pravin Gordhan‚ our much-loved finance minister‚ has shares everywhere, and there are those that don’t see anything wrong with that but rather turn a blind eye because the country is being threatened by the unprogressive and questionable rating agencies.”

According to Zuma, Gordhan “and company” are continuing to sell and privatise state-owned enterprises to their friends and masters.

“And they again hide behind profitability‚ yet they deliberately run down these institutions so as to sell to their friends or children, as has been seen at the SAA debacle.

“They tried to sell SAA to a company where Gordhan’s relative or daughter has interests. What a coincidence. And that plan is still on‚ led by Pravin himself.”

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Edward’s scathing attack against Gordhan comes amid speculation in ANC circles that the minister could be removed from his post by Zuma after the state of the nation address – which analysts have warned could see the country plagued by an economic crisis.

Gordhan’s deputy, Mcebisi Jonas, who has previously alleged that the controversial Gupta family had offered him R600 million to “capture” National Treasury, is accused by Zuma’s son of using the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) along Gordhan as their own playground.

“They are also in charge of the PIC under the chairmanship of the holy Mcebisi Jonas‚ Gordhan’s partner in business and colleague in government.

“This institution … is their base and playground for total control and capture of the country‚ as the likes of Shoprite Checkers‚ Bidvest‚ white fund managers and many more Jewish-based entities are running the show without interference from government and with the help of the government officials who have shares in the companies that get money from the PIC.

Edward further stated: “If they dispute my assertion‚ let’s go public. I will expose all this.”

‘De Klerk must shut up and enjoy stolen monies’

The last apartheid president of South Africa FW de Klerk was not left unscathed by Edward.

“Civil servants’ funds are misused at the blessings of these people, and yet they don’t want to increase people’s salaries‚ but companies that benefit from workers’ funds pay their executives bonuses of millions of dollars. Time will tell, as I have always been saying again, that we are sitting on a time bomb. There comes a time where we will be fed up with these people.

“The sad thing is they will not be around the country to witness that anger, but will be in their Caribbean villas‚ like FW de Klerk, who has all of a sudden become a good governance guru in spite of stealing money to buy an island under his Greek wife. He must shut up and enjoy the cash he stole from government.”

“As all his administration was about corruption and looting of state funds, as it had become clear that power was shifting and his cabinet facilitated transactions‚ like the Absa scandal that we see today. So De Klerk is the last to be telling us where South Africa is or should be going‚” he said.