Hands off Treasury protest on North Coast Road

The protest was part of a nation-wide demonstration involving concerned citizens who are worried about state capture.

The protest took place outside the Redhill Post Office on Friday morning.

A HANDFUL of residents supported the ‘Hands Off Treasury!’ peaceful protest on North Coast Road (outside the Redhill Post Office) on Friday morning. The purpose of the protest was to show solidarity with finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, former SARS commissioner Oupa Magashula and former deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay.

Durban North resident and Active Citizens Movement (ACM) member, Dr Mags Moodley, said the protest was part of a nation-wide demonstration involving concerned citizens worried about State capture and ‘trumped up’ political charges laid by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

The NPA is currently investigating a fraud case against Gordhan, who will appear in court on November 2 for a fraud charge regarding a pension payment to former SARS Commissioner, Ivan Pillay.

Greenwood Park residents, Yashvir and Rishay Ramluggan and Isaac Ngema said they wanted to show solidarity for Pravin Gordhan.

The signs included, ‘Save Our Institutions’, ‘Stop the Looting’ and ‘Hands off Pravin’.

Dr Mags Moodley and James Wheeler were two of around 20 people who showed up to protest the NPA’s fraud charges against Pravin Gordhan, Ivan Pillay and Oupa Magashula.

Jimmy Msomi, Zolile Simoyisi and James Gwala said they too were angered by what they perceived to be trumped up political charges made by the NPA.

“This protest is about registering our collective outrage against the abuse and capture of state institutions to further narrow political and economic agendas. The charges of fraud made against the three are spurious. We wanted to show support and register our absolute disgust to the NPA’s baseless charges,” he said.

Similar demonstrations were held in Chatsworth, Merebank and Pietermaritzburg early on Friday morning.