Speech ban on Zuma ‘just crazy’

ANCYL in KZN slams Cosatu over its decision on president

THE ANC Youth League in KwaZulu-Natal has described Cosatu’s decision to ban President Jacob Zuma from speaking at its gatherings as “crazy from the onset”.

Mandla Shange, the ANCYL KZN spokesperson, said: “Cosatu cannot tell the ANC who to deploy, but I think generally the concern is that Cosatu is falling apart.

“Instead of focusing on rebuilding structures of Cosatu, they are busy minding business that is not theirs.”

Shange said this was nothing major and Cosatu were “just crazy”.

They needed to put more focus on rebuilding so they could become the voice of workers, he added.

Cosatu’s decision to ask the ANC to send Cyril Ramaphosa instead of the president to speak at its events appeared to be a further endorsement of the deputy president and a blow to Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.

Shange said: “They have declared their support for the deputy president but it is absolutely wrong for them to determine who must speak on behalf of another organisation. This is the beginning of the madness.

“Workers of South Africa are leaderless – that is why a new federation has been formed. Cosatu is doing nothing about that, and its affiliates are losing its members,” Shange added.

Cosatu’s national spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said the federation had deliberated at length on the decision. He named the Nkandla saga, the alleged influence of the Gupta family on the president and Treasury, the state capture report and the cabinet reshuffle among the factors that had contributed to their decision.

“We don’t think the ship is being steered in the right direction – we still believe in the ANC and what it stands for but we don’t think Zuma is the right person to steer the ship. The president needs to step down,” Pamla said.

“How are we going to have him come here and address us? What message is he going to share with us when we no longer support and trust him?”

Pamla added that Cosatu did not think Zuma could contribute anything as he “doesn’t have a clue what to do with this country”.

He said they would be lying if they said they had no regrets for backing Zuma to be ANC and, subsequently, the country’s president, and their decision was an expression of “that level of regret”.

“We influence the ANC policy-wise and hope to get a leadership that is ready and prepared to implement the policies of the ANC, and we thought Jacob Zuma was the right person to implement those policies,” Pamla said.

While Cosatu had announced Ramaphosa could address its gatherings instead of Zuma, as far as backing him for the presidency of the ruling party, it had not closed the door on other members of the ANC top six to address them, Pamla added.

According to political analyst Daniel Silke, Cosatu’s decision was highly embarrassing for Zuma. It reinforced their earlier calls for him to step down.

“It’s a significant moment in the alliance’s history where a sitting president is formally being told he can no longer address any Cosatu gathering. It damages further the brand of Zuma, as he’s not just president Zuma – there’s also Dlamini Zuma, who is waiting in the wings – so there is a sense that Cosatu is determined to see the Zuma brand not being in the power seats in the ANC and that clearly Ramaphosa is the one for them,” Silke said.

He added it indicated the deep rifts within the alliance around leadership and factions relating to that leadership, and also showed a deep concern about the current state of South Africa and the need to renew political leadership.

They cannot tell the ANC who to deploy