Zuma prayers answered - Winnie
2006-09-20 12:44
Midrand - An ecstatic Winnie Madikizela-Mandela sang a song at the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) national congress on Wednesday indicating that the prayers of the people "have been answered" following the dismissal of the corruption charges against former deputy president Jacob Zuma.
"We must thank the Lord now because they (the prayers) have been
answered," she told the crowd, who erupted in song.
"The difficult days of the struggle, the underground days when we
engaged the enemy ... to be where we are today. It is important for us
that the gains we have attained have been attained through the blood of
our people," she said, naming former SACP leader Chris Hani, former ANC
leader Oliver Tambo and student leader Hector Petersen.
She said she was impressed with the level of debate at the Cosatu
congress.
Lesson in unity
"I am one of those great grandmothers ... I have always known
my age from the media," she said, noting that she would be 70 on September 26.
Madikizela Mandela - who was dismissed as a deputy minister by her
ex-husband Nelson Mandela in 1995 when he was still president - gave
the congress goers a lesson in unity.
She noted that it had been Louis Farrakhan who said that "unity is
stronger than the atom bomb".
It was one of several calls by those on the political left -
including South African Communist Party general secretary Blade
Nzimande - for unity of worker purpose.
Workers question government
Noting governments that did not get along with the people that
govern - without directly mentioning the South African government or
President Thabo Mbeki - she said: "The workers always question the
mandate (of government)."
"My comrade (without identifying him or her) has just said to me ... a
government should not be a government of the country, it should be a
government of the people for the people by the people," she said,
emphasising the role that the workers must play in monitoring
government activity.
Earlier Cosatu president Willie Madisha praised her for the role
she had played in the struggle, peppered with long periods of
confinement and banishment during the apartheid period.
Madisha - who looks set to face a challenge to his leadership - hugged Madikizela-Mandela, to the joy of the crowd.