Bid to oust Zuma soon - Samwu

2010-03-05 15:02

Johannesburg - There was a movement within the ANC to push for a motion of no confidence in South African President Jacob Zuma later this year, the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) said on Friday.

"Counter revolutionaries" within the leading party was moving to "recall" the president, said Mathandeki Nhlapo, general secretary of the Congress of SA Trade unions affiliate.

At a briefing, he said the group consisted of "progressive elements" within the leadership of the ANC - which is in an alliance with Cosatu and the SA Communist Party.

Nhlapo would not name these individuals, but said it was the same group which leaked information on a planned coup on former president Thabo Mbeki's government before the ANC's Polokwane conference in 2007.

At the time, a report was circulated claiming that businessmen Tokyo Sexwale and Cyril Ramaphosa were behind an attempt to remove Mbeki from the presidency.

Chaos

Nhlapo said the people who leaked the report were responsible for the possible vote of no confidence against Zuma. They wanted to "cause chaos" in the country.

"Those people are still within the movement, but they are in the way of what we are doing," he said. "We need to crush those people and brutally so."

Nhlapo said there was "very, very serious" political tension within the ANC-led tripartite alliance. He said Samwu, which "demands" socialism, would defend Zuma.

"Some elements in the ANC want to make changes prematurely," he said.

"The ANC cannot be hijacked as we now see happening. We will deal with corruption that is killing the ANC at this time."

- SAPA