ANC pays price of papering cracks

NUMSA, the biggest trade union and an affiliate of Cosatu, has struck the ANC a heavy blow, leaving the monolithic organisation reeling.

At its special congress in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng, it decided it would not support the ruling party in next year’s general elections and has also called on President Jacob Zuma to step down.

If such calls came from the opposition, the ANC could shrug them off with contempt. But they come from the very heart of the ANC, and show that its members have had enough of the profligacy and corruption of the Zuma government.

They can stomach it no more and have decided to withdraw their votes – all 300 000. That should shock the ANC because Numsa wields considerable power with its workers.

The cracks in the tripartite alliance appeared some time ago, but its leaders dismissed them as not serious. They simply papered over the cracks and reaffirmed their commitment to each other.

There was the breakaway Cope; the expulsion of Julius Malema, who took with him his band of red-capped rabblerousers; the Nkandla scandal, which continues to dominate news headlines, exposing government corruption on a grand scale; the subsequent booing of Jacob Zuma; and opposition parties uniting against the ANC. They can sense blood.

Numsa’s breakaway will remove a sizeable chunk of votes from the ANC and reduce its majority considerably. I cannot see the ANC ruling until the coming of Christ. T MARKANDAN

Silverglen THE ANC persists with its claim that President Zuma was not fully aware of what expenditure was taking place at his homestead in Nkandla.

Well, let’s give the ANC and Zuma the benefit of the doubt. However, this raises the question: Should a man who has no idea what is going on in his own household or can’t be bothered to find out, despite the outrageous expenditure and spectacular changes taking place under his very nose, be entrusted to lead a country? DAVE MITCHELL

New Germany