‘Naughty' strike by Cosatu and SACP linked to ANC succession battle: analysts

27 September 2017 - 19:21 By Sipho Mabena
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Political analyst Professor Lucky Mathebula said the two formations’ goal was to remove Zuma from office to weaken Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign to become ANC president and to strengthen the campaign of her rival‚ Cyril Ramaphosa.
Political analyst Professor Lucky Mathebula said the two formations’ goal was to remove Zuma from office to weaken Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign to become ANC president and to strengthen the campaign of her rival‚ Cyril Ramaphosa.
Image: Thuli Dlamini

The “naughty” strike by the ruling party’s alliance partners‚ the SA Communist Party‚ and labour federation Congress of South African Trade Unions has been linked to the bruising ANC succession battle being waged.

Analysts argue that SACP and Cosatu have a common enemy in President Jacob Zuma and that the march and the strike had little to do with state capture‚ corruption‚ unemployment or the poor performance of the economy as the public was made to believe.

Political analyst Professor Lucky Mathebula said the two formations’ goal was to remove Zuma from office to weaken Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s campaign to become ANC president and to strengthen the campaign of her rival‚ Cyril Ramaphosa.

He said SACP and Cosatu advanced economic reasons when they applied for the march at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) when in actual fact the real reason was political.

Mathebula‚ a research associate at the Tshwane University of Technology‚ said had they said they were striking against Zuma‚ the reason would have been political and workers who joined the strike would have taken part in an illegal strike.

“So there was that naughtiness in how they communicated their march. But the issue here is about the removal of Zuma so that (he) does not get in at the ANC elective conference (in December) as ANC president and president of the country. That is weakening the campaign of the faction that Zuma is supporting and strengthening the campaign (of Ramaphosa)‚” Mathebula said.

Mathebula said the two organisations had made it clear that they do not have a problem with the ANC but Zuma as an individual.

“They have refused him to speak at their rallies and they are not inviting him to their rallies so the battle seems to be between the two alliance partners and the leader of the ANC‚” he added.

Levy Ndou‚ public administration lecturer and political analyst at Tshwane University of Technology‚ echoed Mathebula’s sentiments‚ saying that in the main‚ the strike was an expression of the organisation’s dissatisfaction with Zuma and not his administration or the issues that they were raising.

He said the SACP and Cosatu would have joined the civil society march earlier this year if they felt so strong about corruption and state capture.

“It is about influencing the outcome of the elective conference in December‚ particularly in support of the deputy president and this is another strategy to weaken the Nkosazana Dlamini-Dlamini faction. It is about testing the ground‚” he said.

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