Give me a challenge, I can bring back the Guptas, says Mashaba

Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba has maintained that it is unacceptable that foreign nationals have been allowed to open tuck shops without employing South Africans, even when the country had a high unemployment rate.

“You get a foreigner running a tuck shop when we’re sitting with 10.2 [million] people that are unemployed. No country would allow something like this

“We’re the only country in the world who would allow something like this. Can you go to India to do this? Can you go to Pakistan and do this? You’d be lucky to even get a visa into Pakistan.

“But we’re prepared as a country to allow people from far away to come and open tuck shops in our communities and not employ some locals.

Mashaba was on a Power FM conversation where he detailed his request at a conference on Wednesday that saw him challenging delegates to give him the task of assisting government in dealing with corruption at the country’s borders.

“Yesterday, there was a big conference on corruption. I said they can give me a challenge: give me the permission and I can bring the Guptas back,” Mashaba boasted.

He has reportedly appealed to government to give his office more power in a bid to root out corruption, as he claims most raids led by the police have failed due to the targets receiving tip-offs.

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