Victory crowd greets Zuma
2006-09-20 22:43
Johannesburg - An ecstatic crowd greeted Jacob Zuma as he arrived at the Congress of SA Trade Unions' (Cosatu) ninth national congress in Midrand on Wednesday night.
He was welcomed by thousands of unionists, many standing on tables and chairs, singing his trademark song Umashini Wami (Bring my machine gun).
They had waited in anticipation for him to fly in from KwaZulu-Natal after the Pietermaritzburg High Court struck his corruption case off the roll earlier in the day.
Amid shouts of "Zuma, Zuma," he walked through the conference hall onto the podium at Gallagher Estate, in Midrand.
Zuma greeted Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzama Vavi.
Delegates erupted in celebration on Wednesday afternoon as the court's decision filtered through the hall via the two-word cellphone SMS from Pietermaritzburg to Cosatu: "Struck Off!!!!"
"Hold on, hold on, we are going to celebrate now until right into the evening," Vavi told them.
"When we opened the congress we said we were smelling a victory," he said.
- SAPA