SA union wants President Zuma to resign
National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA),
on Wednesday in Boksburg near Johannesburg has called
for the resignation of President Jacob Zuma.
The over 338,000 member union is the largest affiliate of
the Congress of South African Trade Unions, an umbrella
body of unions and powerful ally of the African National
Congress (ANC).
It was gathered from agency reports that this is coming one
week after Zuma was heckled and booed in front of many
world leaders and a global television audience at Nelson
Mandela's memorial service.
The union President, Andrew Chirw, at a special national
congress questioned why their members should continue
voting for the ruling ANC when the party had abandoned
the "Freedom Charter'', its founding document.
He added that the spending of 20 million dollars of public
funds on Zuma's private Nkandla residence should be
reason enough for him to "resign in the interests of the
poor".
Chirw stressed that Zuma's resignation would preserve the
legacy of Mandela "who taught us that the needs of the
people must be prioritised over personal needs of leaders."
Also speaking, Irvin Jim, the Secretary General of the union,
warned that the ruling party could be treated like the
apartheid regime, if it did not produce good results.
NUMSA delegates hinted that they were exploring the
possibility of dropping the ANC and forming a workers'
party that might contest next year's general elections.
Post a Comment