COSATU in the Western Cape says the possible recalling of President Jacob Zuma will be tabled at next year’s central executive committee meeting.
This comes after the trade union announced last month they would endorse Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma.
Although the succession debate has been discouraged by leaders of the ANC, many within the movement have been quick to nominate their preferred candidates.
Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich at a press conference yesterday reaffirmed the province’s stance on the pronouncement of Ramaphosa as the next leader of the ANC.
He says although a final decision is yet to be made on recalling Zuma, it is high up on discussions.
“The central executive congress has not said Zuma must go or stay, but there is no restriction on that being tabled at the next sitting taking place in February, 2017.”
“Already there are unions within Cosatu, including Nehawu, who have called for President Zuma to step down. We must discuss it in the CEC and we must make a stance.
“As Cosatu we want a stable government and President Zuma does not provide a stable government and when there is instability the workers do not progress.
“We want to make sure people continue to support the ANC but before that can happen there needs to be serious changes to the leadership of the party.
“In our view the buck must stop with him as leader of the organisation and as a member of the tripartite alliance, it is our duty to restore that trust.”
Ehrenreich says they were very pleased with the announcement of Ramaphosa as the ANC’s new president.
“We believe that this announcement will go a long way in comforting the members of Cosatu who have been concerned about the latest developments in the government that has led to the billions of rand of their savings in the pension funds being wiped out,” he added.
“The concerns in the ANC have led to an exodus of support in the ANC by workers at election times, which pose a significant threat to the process of transformation.
“We believe there has been a lot of damage done by President Zuma, the replacement of the finance minister, the State Capture report, Nkandla, all incidents that directly involve President Zuma,” said Ehrenreich.