Daily News
*Zuma plotters are out* *Bheki Mbanjwa, Daily News, Durban, 2 May 2012 *The campaign to unseat Jacob Zuma as president of the ANC at December's Mangaung conference started soon after his victory over Thabo Mbeki at Polokwane in 2007, the national secretary of the Young Communist League, Buti Manamela, has claimed.
"Before some of us had even turned our backs on Polokwane the plotting against this leadership had started," Manamela, who remains one of Zuma's closest allies, said at a May Day rally in Durban on Tuesday.
"Even before the first meeting of the ANC, SACP or Cosatu after the Polokwane conference, they had started plotting and their plots are being discovered daily."
He did not name the alleged plotters.Manamela said the forthcoming conferences of the tripartite alliance would not be about leadership but would focus on "the needs, interests and aspirations" of South Africans.
He warned that any bitter contestation before the conferences could be detrimental to the future of the alliance.
"If we have a major battle going into these conferences our people will lose faith in our organisations; our people will turn their backs on our organisations and our people will forget that these are the organisations of Nelson Mandela, Elijah Barayi (the first Cosatu president), and Moses Mabhida," he said. "Our people will find a new home."
The SACP conference is in July, while Cosatu will hold its conference in September and the ANC conference takes place in December where Zuma could face a challenge -- possibly from his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe.
Manamela said all those who were at the forefront of the plot against Zuma had been exposed and removed from the party and would not be part of the conference. This appeared to be a swipe at the recently expelled ANC Youth League leader, Julius Malema, and the suspensions of league officials Sindiso Magaqa and Floyd Shivambu.
"Today, all they can do is to look for the highest mountain and get the most expensive binoculars to look into what is going to happen at those conferences because they are not going to be there," he said.
"They have declared themselves persona non grata in our movement."They do not belong in our movement; they belong elsewhere and we want to see the unity of the entire alliance, especially without some of them."
He lashed out at Malema's supporters, saying they were displaying blind loyalty to individuals.
His supporters had since organised themselves into the Friends of the Youth League, to give the firebrand youth leader a platform in order to keep his voice alive.
Those supporting Malema had adopted "asijiki" (we are not turning back) as their war cry before the Mangaung conference -- a sign of their resolve to replace Zuma and ANC secretary-general, Gwede Mantashe.
Manamela also criticised what he called the "comrade tsotsis" within the ANC, saying that these were people concerned with getting positions only as a means of self enrichment.
"Their desire for positions is mainly the desire to fill their pockets, and not the desire to serve our people," he said.
Meanwhile, president of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, Cedric Gina, said the future of Cosatu's general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, would be decided by the trade union federation and the ANC.
He was reacting to comments by DA leader, Helen Zille, who had accused Vavi of trying to build a base to take over leadership of the ANC and the alliance in 2017.
Gina also warned the DA that "workers" might take to the streets to protest against the party's court challenge, which sought to overturn the dropping of corruption charges against Zuma in 2009.
He said the union believed that "in a capitalist system, courts would always serve the interests of the ruling class", adding that the union leaders were still "discussing the appropriate response" to the DA action.
Recently the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein ruled in favour of the DA, saying the decision by the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to withdraw charges against Zuma could be subject to a judicial review.
The court also ruled that the NPA make records related to the decision available.
[email protected] *From: http://www.iol.co.za/dailynews/news/zuma-plotters-are-out-1.1287111* ** ** ** -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
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