POLOKWANE – Similar scenes were seen at events across the country with the President of the ANC, Jacob Zuma also heckled at the Bloemfontein rally, resulting in him leaving the venue without addressing the crowd.
In Durban, the party’s National Chairperson, Baleka Mbete was met with the same apparent disdain, as was Sihle Zikalala, the KZN ANC Chairperson. This was in contrast to the acceptance received by Deputy President, Cyril Ramaphosa, where he delivered a May Day address in Mpumalanga.
Cosatu recently joined several other stakeholders in asking Zuma to step down as the president of the country.
Limpopo ANC Secreatry, Nocks Seabi said they were disappointed by the behaviour of Cosatu members at the Peter Mokaba Stadium rally.
“The ANC was not notified by Cosatu or any of its affiliates that the ANC leadership was not welcome to participate in the celebrations. The ANC took part in the march as part of our unrelenting commitment to the struggles of the workers, which remain the core of our agenda for a better South Africa for all,” he said.
The struggles waged by generations of workers has given rise to the recognition of workers’ rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of association, and May Day celebrations represent the hope that workers will defeat the “exploitative tendencies of monopoly capital”, according to Seabi.
He commented on the apparent internal strife in the tripartite alliance.
“Whatever the challenges, the ANC feels there is no need for disagreement among ourselves that warrants this kind of disruptive behaviour. It compromises the historical significance of May Day celebrations. It’s our view that intolerance and disrespect of our leaders only serves to allow enemies of our revolution to find the space to disrupt the agenda for radical economic transformation.
“We hope that Cosatu will find a way of rectifying this unwarranted behaviour,” he said.
Cosatu members marched from the Jack Botes hall to the Office of the Premier to hand over a memorandum of demands.
The union’s Deputy General Secretary, Solly Phetoe said celebrating May Day without the ANC means the alliance was “incomplete”.
He said the unruly behaviour by members was not something that was planned against the ANC.
“We will never plan something against our own movement. As we celebrate Worker’s Day under difficult circumstances, we must not neglect to celebrate victories won for workers in recent years.”
Duarte said it must be made clear that those driving a division in the tripartite alliance won’t succeed.
“The ANC has not yet decided on a (presidential) candidate. The message we want to convey is that this campaign to distance the ANC from workers in the country, will not succeed. The president of the country will step down in December when his term in office finishes, that’s the decision of the ANC. Cosatu takes it upon itself to make a decision which we must respect, but they don’t want to respect our decision of the president stepping down in December,” said Duarte.
In the meantime, Cosatu’s Bheki Ntshalintshali called on the federation’s members to lobby for Cyril Ramaphosa to become the next ANC president.
