Johannesburg Mayor Herman Mashaba says he will approach the Equality Court, in his personal capacity, to seek legal recourse against the Gupta brothers, Atul and Ajay, for their alleged racial slurs against black South Africans.
Mashaba says he wrote an open letter to Prosecutions boss Shaun Abrahams in June, giving him 60 days to take action against the Guptas following revelations of their corrupt activities and alleged racist behavior.
Mashaba says to date he has not received a response from the National Prosecuting Authority.
He says this information is corroborated by journalist Rajesh Sundaram, a former editor at ANN7, whose account of discriminatory and unfair working conditions, mainly affecting young black employees as well as migrant Indian workers, is captured in his book ‘ Indentured: Behind the Scenes at Gupta TV’. Mashaba says he wants Atul Gupta to prove his alleged statement that Black South Africans are lazy and corruptible.
“I think in this particular case my charge is against him, actually claiming that us South Africans blacks in particular, that we are lazy, we are corruptible. I will obviously take the matter to the equality court, I’d really like Atul Gupta to prove to the courts that is a fact that us South Africans are lazy. For him to make statements that we are lazy, I’d like him to test this in the equality court.”
