Cosatu seeks backing for Ramaphosa

COSATU has begun lobbying ANC provinces in a bid to bolster its campaign to have Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa succeed President Jacob Zuma.

Cosatu leaders say they are likely to get support from the ANC in Gauteng, whose leaders have already expressed support for Ramaphosa.

But the labour federation will face tough opposition in Mpumalanga, North West, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal.

The leaders in those provinces have indicated that they will back AU Commission chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as their presidential candidate at the ANC’s elective conference in December next year.

General secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali confirmed on Friday that Cosatu was lobbying other provinces to rally behind Ramaphosa.

“We hope we are not the only one going to him. We have to see what the ANC in different provinces are saying.

“We know what Gauteng said. So we will have to speak,” Ntshalintshali said.

Cosatu’s big unions, the National Union of Mineworkers, the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, succeeded in convincing the majority of affiliates to back Ramaphosa at the central executive committee meeting held this week.

Although Cosatu does not have voting rights in ANC elections, this is a major boost for Ramaphosa because a large number of Cosatu members hold ANC memberships.

In recent history, Cosatubacked leaders have gone on to win ANC leadership contests.

This week’s meeting also resolved not to fight for Zuma to leave office immediately, but it was agreed that a suitable candidate should be found to replace him.

Ramaphosa is believed to enjoy significant support in Limpopo and Eastern Cape. His campaign is also gaining ground in KwaZulu-Natal.

Cosatu would start its campaign by first meeting Ramaphosa to officially inform him of the decision by the labour federation and to allow him to explain what sort of leaders he would “like to work with”, Ntshalintshali said .

“We said we can’t be putting this man’s name [forward] without him agreeing to stand . . . before we go to holiday, we will speak to him.”

Ntshalintshali said Ramaphosa was a tried-andtested leader who had proved his ability to lead in various sectors.

“He has the capacity to manage the organisation like a business,” he said.

But the ANC’s national spokesman, Zizi Kodwa, insisted that it was only the party’s branches that could nominate a candidate for the ANC presidency.