Cosatu warns ANC to 'wake up'

Cosatu President S'dumo Dlamini File picture: Sizwe Ndingane

Cosatu President S'dumo Dlamini File picture: Sizwe Ndingane

Published Dec 9, 2016

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Johannesburg - The political conditions in South Africa were worse now compared the era leading up to the African National Congress’ (ANC) fractious Polokwane conference in 2007, Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Sidumo Dlamini said on Friday.“The conditions prevailing now are worse than they were in 2005…we call on the ANC to wake up. The ANC should close ranks and unite itself and leaders must lead us from the front,” Dlamini told members of the Young Communist League of SA (YCLSA) at its national council held in Soweto.He said as long as the ANC was the ruling party, its actions, good or bad, had a direct impact on workers, and therefore the federation would not take a neutral position on who should lead the party.Cosatu announced its support for ANC and South Africa deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa three weeks ago. It said Ramaphosa was a tested leader, having been a unionist within Cosatu, and had helped with the formation of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and said it would canvass for Ramaphosa’s election in 2017.The ANC’s national conference next year December would see the party branches elect their preferred successor to Zuma, who is facing mounting pressure to step down.When the time comes for the ANC to officially declare the party succession debate open, the trade union federation would put Ramaphosa’s name forward and rally for his support at the party’s 2017 elective conference, said Dlamini.“We respect the SACP for not pronouncing on its preferred successor for the ANC, but this is the position we took, that Ramaphosa is the one.”Dlamini said the tripartite-alliance was not able to tackle the problems it faced, and leaders needed to be on the ground listening to people’s concerns. No one would take the ANC, SACP and ANC alliance seriously if they were aloof and not in touch with their members, he said.Earlier, the YCLSA declared its support for Ramaphosa in 2017, but said it did not support calls for Zuma to resign.African News Agency

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