The leaked Gupta emails may well be the biggest crisis South Africa has experienced since the dawn of democracy, South African Communist Party’s (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande said.

He said this while addressing members of the National Health, Education and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) at its 11th congress taking place in Boksburg this week.

"What is being revealed by the current emails that the media is releasing bit by bit and on a weekly basis, may actually be the biggest scandal and crisis facing our country and movement since the 1994 democratic breakthrough," Nzimande said on Monday.

Citing comments made by African National Congress (ANC) secretary general Gwede Mantashe during the Gauteng ANC policy conference last week, Nzimande said some of those implicated were confirming the accuracy of the contents contained in the emails.

A series of leaked emails linking the Gupta family and its associates to President Jacob Zuma’s son, Duduzane, and several Cabinet ministers, have dominated news headlines for several weeks.

He told delegates that he was worried about the unfolding saga, reaffirming the SACP’s call for a judicial commission of inquiry and expressing happiness over the ANC national executive committee’s decision on a state of capture judicial inquiry.

Nzimande said they wanted the commission to be established without delay.

He added that, although the SACP understood those who applied for a review of former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s report on the state of capture had the right to do so, it felt the inquiry needed to be established in the meantime.

The party has been one of the most vocal critics of the Gupta family and its hold over some of the members of the ANC-led alliance.

Nzimande also lashed out at those who had been critical of the communist party’s stance on the Guptas but claim it had been silent when it comes to the banks.

"They must have been fast asleep when the SACP almost single-handedly initiated and consistently driven the financial sector campaign to tackle finance monopoly capital."