Cosatu is behind President Jacob Zuma because he is an honest leader, the trade union federation's president, Sdumo Dlamini, told an SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) rally in Durban yesterday.
But, just a few hours earlier, the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) - which in December withdrew its support for the ruling party's election campaign - showed the division between Cosatu and some of its affiliates.
Numsa members attending a KwaZulu-Natal provincial shop stewards' council meeting interrupted Dlamini's speech, forcing provincial secretary Zet Luzipo to intervene and threaten to cancel the meeting if they continued.
But Zuma's support in his home province appeared firm as thousands of Sanco and ANC supporters chanted: "Hands off Zuma. Go away Helen Zille" when the president arrived at Curries Fountain Stadium, where Sanco was celebrating its 22nd anniversary.
The crowd's enthusiasm was starting to wane after they had waited six hours for Zuma to arrive but when the president's motorcade entered the stadium they cheered and ran behind his car.
Zuma appealed to Sanco to help communities organise themselves when dealing with service-delivery issues.
"An unorganised society is a danger to itself," Zuma said, referring to violent service-delivery protests.
Sanco president Richard Madakane said the organisation planned to get more involved with communities and help prevent them from joining political protests disguised as service-delivery marches.
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