SA in ‘titanic fight between good and evil’

ANT KATZ

Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein addressed masses of religious‚ business and civil society leaders at a press briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday morning prior to a march of thousands in the Capital opposing state capture which was arranged by Save South Africa – led by prominent businessman and activist Sipho Pityana.

“This is a titanic fight between good and evil. We must fight corruption and state capture,” said the Chief Rabbi, who was one of only five speakers and spoke in his capacity as an executive member of, and representing, The National Religious Leaders’ Council.

The rally had originally been called in support of Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, “but after the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) dropped their charges yesterday, it became a rally against State Capture and Corruption,” Goldstein told Jewish Report Wednesday. 

“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end,” said Goldstein.

The main issue of State Capture is one of sovereignty, said Goldstein. It is one of the risk that the government of South Africa “is under threat of being put into the hands of a few families.”

Rabbi Goldstein remains positive and hopeful for the future of SA, he says. It is a free country, he told Jewish Report, “and we are not going to take this lying down – it is an important step on our road of freedom.

“All good people of South Africa must come together to fight corruption and state capture,” he said, and there were enough good people to do so. “The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” Goldstein said.

The other four speakers included Pityana, who said: “We have to come to terms with the fact that for as long as we have President Zuma as president of the country, it is not possible to turn the situation around.” The chairman of AngloGold Ashanti and organiser of the march said: “We’ve told him that we believe he is no longer deserving to lead this country.”

Standard Bank co-CEO Sim Tshabalala said that “the importance of being here is to stand up and say … we don’t like and what we don’t stand for, which is the inappropriate use of state institutions and corruption.”

Another speaker was Cheryl Carolus, a former ANC leader, who said: “Our county is in crisis. We could have done a lot better if there was leadership. Our government and our ANC is missing in action.”

Rabbi Goldstein said the fight against corruption is really a battle between good and evil. “South Africa is at a crossroad.” He said afterwards, “between the forces of good and evil – justice and freedom versus corruption.”