Why Cosatu backs Zuma
2005-08-20 16:08
Johannesburg - It was no secret that the real reason the Congress of South African Trade Unions was backing former deputy president Jacob Zuma was because of its dislike of President Thabo Mbeki, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said on Saturday.
"But you don't need to be an 'Mbeki fan' to know that the president is right in this case, and Cosatu is wrong," Leon told the party's North West provincial congress in Rustenburg.
However, the President and ANC were afraid to respond to Cosatu's provocations too harshly, because they depended on union members to get the vote in elections, he said.
Cosatu's call for Zuma to be reinstated and for his corruption trial to be stopped amounted to an assault on the very constitution that established workers' rights in the new South Africa, Leon said.
No ordinary person would enjoy the immunity that Cosatu sought for Zuma, he said.
Accusing Cosatu of believing in one law for the rich and powerful, and another law for the poor, he charged that the congress was behaving as a political party, not an organisation fighting for workers' interests.
- SAPA