Unions warn S’dumo Dlamini to play his role as Cosatu president

Cosatu president S’dumo Dlamini on Thursday came under fire at the closing session of the labour federation’s 6th central committee meeting in Pretoria, with unions giving him an ultimatum to either stand by its position that President Jacob Zuma must go, or they would be left with no choice but to look for an “alternative” leader.

The warning reportedly came from the health and safety national chairperson of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), Peter Bailey, TimesLIVE reported.

“I want to say to the presidency [S’dumo Dlamini]‚ you seem to be found wanting in articulating the decision of the federation, and if you are going to behave in that manner‚ you are not assisting in uniting the federation.

“Now I want to make a humble plea with you‚ now that the central committee has reaffirmed the mandate‚ president of the federation‚ lead that process.

“Lead [us] because you have almost two million workers behind you who have taken that decision. We don’t expect the secretariat to articulate that view. The secretariat gives you an overview, and the political heads take and articulate the view and advance it unapologetically so‚” Bailey was quoted as saying.

Dlamini has come under increasing criticism after he attended Zuma’s 75th-birthday bash in Kliptown, Soweto, in April, where he said workers were “behind” the president despite Cosatu’s call for Zuma to step down following his controversial midnight Cabinet reshuffle in March.

On Monday at the opening of the committee meeting at St Georges Hotel, Dlamini also drew disapproval from Cosatu delegates for failing to articulate the union federation’s stance for Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to succeed Zuma as the next leader of the ANC.

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