Zuma keeps N West supporters waiting

27/04/2011 President Jacob Zuma at the Union Building during the freedom day celebration. Picture : Sizwe Ndingane

27/04/2011 President Jacob Zuma at the Union Building during the freedom day celebration. Picture : Sizwe Ndingane

Published Apr 29, 2014

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Brits - About 500 ANC supporters gathered in Sonop near Brits on Tuesday afternoon to wait for ANC leader Jacob Zuma, who was scheduled to arrive in the morning.

Dressed in yellow party T-shirts, they were seated in two tents while others were standing next to the tents.

They had been waiting for Zuma to arrive in their area since the morning.

Zuma was in a meeting with traditional and religious leaders behind closed doors at the Madibeng municipal building.

Zuma was in Brits to canvass votes for the ANC in the May 7 election.

George Peta, a Lonmin mineworker, said he expected Zuma to end the strike in the platinum belt.

“He is the leader of the country. I think he should intervene in the strike and order Amcu and mines to reach a settlement,” he said.

Peta, a member of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), said he was starving at home.

“I cannot raise my concerns in a meeting. They will kill me. Many of us want to go to work.”

Amcu members at Lonmin, Impala and Anglo American Platinum downed tools on January 23 demanding a basic salary of R12,500 per month.

Mining companies had offered an increase of ten percent and threatened to take the offer direct to workers after talks collapsed on Thursday.

Access to the community hall was strictly controlled. Everyone arriving was screened with a metal detector at the gate.

Three Volkswagen Beetles in ANC colours were racing in the street near the hall.

A bakkie in ANC colours played the party election song Y-tjukutja from loudspeakers while young people danced to its beat.

Sapa

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