Will the real Cosatu please stand up – DA
JOHANNESBURG - Democratic Alliance leader in Gauteng Mmusi Maimane said Cosatu’s stance against e-tolling was hypocritical.
He was speaking at a media briefing where he announced his party’s plans to fight e-tolling.
Maimane criticised Cosatu’s unwavering affiliation to the ANC, despite the ruling party’s decision to ‘impose’ the system.
“I struggle to understand how Cosatu could stand up in public and say they oppose e-tolling, yet their MPs vote the Bill in [into law]. In par, I say will the real Cosatu please stand up,” he said.
Maimane said the party had no plans to join Cosatu’s march against e-tolls.
Labelling the trade union as hypocrites, Maimane said he found it misleading that while they (Cosatu) march against e-tolls, “they send their MPs to vote the Bill into law”.
He challenged the ANC to debate the legitimate enforcement of e-tolling.
“That debate must be heard and you can’t take away people’s right to be able to have that,” he said.
In response to Maimane’s statement, Cosatu’s chairperson in Gauteng Phutas Tseki said the DA’s stance on e-tolling was for its own interest.
“If they were interested in what Cosatu stood for, they were going to be positive. They are doing this for their own interest and not for the majority of the people, which is the poor and the working class,”Tseki added.
