ANC to meet Cosatu over ‘support’

Johannesburg — The ANC will meet Cosatu throughout the country to discuss support, ANC deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday. “We will be meeting with them all over the country to talk about one message, which is support,” he told editors in Parktown, Johannesburg. He said the case of the Cosatu was not unique because all organisations in the world went through ups and downs.

“The ANC would like all components of the [tripartite] alliance to be strong, functional and effective, although there are challenges.”
Asked about Parliament’s Nkandla ad hoc committee, Ramaphosa said the party was satisfied the matter would be handled as it moved on.

The committee was set to consider President Jacob Zuma’s submissions on the public protector’s report on Nkandla, but was effectively dissolved on Monday.

The matter was put to a vote after the ANC proposed it stand over for the next Parliament to consider after the May 7 elections.
Ramaposa said the committee was postponed for practical reasons.

He was accompanied by the ANC’s national social cohesion committee, including committee chairperson Lindiwe Sisulu.
Sisulu lashed out at opposition parties, saying they focused more on what the ANC was doing rather than on what they would do for people.
“Other parties talk about us while we talk about what we will do for our people.”

She said the ruling party was focusing on what it had done for the country not what other parties were doing.
The tripartite alliance is between Cosatu, the ANC and the SA Communist Party.

Some Cosatu-affiliated unions such as the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) have been highly critical of some of the governing ANC’s policies.

Numsa has gone as far as calling for Zuma’s resignation.
Meanwhile, Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema is grateful that the ANC expelled him from the party, The Star reported yesterday.
Speaking to a crowd in Moloto, Mpumalanga on Monday, he said: “We want to thank the ANC for expelling Julius Malema.

“Without that, we would not have known the true revolution. The ANC only talks about positions . . . but we speak of true messages. We thank them for expelling us. It was a nice thing,” Malema was quoted as saying.

Malema, who headed the ruling party’s youth league, was expelled in 2012 after he was found guilty of sowing divisions within the party.
He promised the Moloto community that he would deliver on reportedly unfulfilled promises Zuma made to them in 2011.

“We spoke about this killer road (while) speaking about the suffering of the people here,” Malema said, referring to the notorious Moloto road.
“Here is the road killing people day in and day out, but nothing is being done.”

He promised to expand the road and construct a railway line which would link Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.
“We will introduce a speed train to transport you to Pretoria in less than 30 minutes,” Malema said. — Sapa