BusinessDay.gif Unions endorse Ramaphosa Karl Gernetzky and Natasha Marrian, Business Day, Johannesburg, 25 November 2015 Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) affiliates on Tuesday backed SA Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to lead the alliance from 2017. The succession issue has raised its head once more in the alliance, with rumours that a silent campaign to drum up support for African Union commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to be president of the ruling party was in progress. In a tacit endorsement of Mr Ramaphosa succeeding President Jacob Zuma as leader of the African National Congress (ANC), the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) put forward a proposal that sought a reaffirmation of the principle that the ANC deputy president would accede to the party's top position, and also to president of the country. The Sadtu proposal was endorsed by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the National Union of Mineworkers, the SA Clothing and Textiles Workers Union (SACTWU) and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA. Sadtu deputy general secretary Nkosana Dolopi said COSATU should take the same position it did in 2005, when it first came out in support of Mr Zuma, who was then deputy president and whose future role in the party was uncertain. "It cannot be that each time the ANC goes to a national elective conference, it suffers from instability which affects the alliance and the country as a whole," said Mr Dolopi to a warm reception. SACTWU called for the succession issue to be dealt with by the COSATU central executive committee after next year's local government elections, because of the "sensitivity" of the matter, echoing sentiments from South African Communist Party (SACP) general secretary Blade Nzimande that early succession debates could destabilise the alliance. Unions were careful not to mention names but emphasised that the principle that the deputy president of the ANC should become its leader would boost confidence and bring stability to the ANC. Sadtu general secretary John Maluleke said his union's position was not factional. "Knowing that the deputy president will be the president will stop factions from forming . it will be good for the economy, for the country and for the ANC," he said. NEHAWU's first deputy president Mike Shingange said it supported succession in the interests of "consistency and stability". The second day of COSATU's four-day national congress in Midrand was dominated by discussions on the failures of the alliance and the weaknesses in the economy. This followed the presentation of the federation's political report. COSATU affiliates cited poor relationships between workers and the government, while affiliates and the SACP warned of a danger of the alliance returning to its pre-Polokwane state when the left in the alliance felt sidelined by former ANC president Thabo Mbeki. From: http://www.bdlive.co.za/national/labour/2015/11/25/unions-endorse-ramaphosa -- -- 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] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
