'Coalition of losers' against Zuma
As we come to the end of the most gruelling election campaign in the history of our country and our young democracy, the Congress of South African Trade Unions expresses its fullest confidence that our people will not be swayed from supporting their party of liberation because of the increased vilification of the President of the ANC by a new alliance of conservative parties, sections of the media and sections of upper middle class.
The ANC was born out of the people to represent their legitimate aspirations. It was not made by the media and all the institutions of privilege that today seek to project themselves as ‘genuine democrats' fighting to defend our hard won democracy from those who led the struggle for freedom and democracy.
It was a product of our people's conviction that only through their own independent actions against apartheid and all other sources of human suffering would they liberate themselves from their oppressors.
As we move closer to 22nd April, the contest has become clear. It is between the winning Alliance of our people led by the ANC on one side, and the artificial ‘coalition of losers' on the other.
The unwavering masses of our people stand firmly on the side of their historic movement; they are defending what is theirs and opposing those who seek to reverse the gains made over years through blood and sweat.
The opposition is an artificial coalition of parties committed to reversing the gains of our people, reducing the influence of the ANC, sabotaging its transformation agenda and re-introducing defeated policies that will undermine the 1994 democratic architecture and the momentum towards the fundamental social transformation of our country.
COSATU has consistently maintained that the greatest threat to our democracy and its institutions, particularly the judiciary, is not from the ANC and or those who defended the human rights of the ANC President. The real threat to our institutions of democracy comes from those who have been manipulating state institutions aided by sections of the media.
Now we have seen who is really attacking these institutions, who is refusing to accept their constitutional powers to adjudicate in accordance with acceptable norms and respect for the dignity of all the people, with full respect for their rights and equality before the law, we have a duty to speak out and defend the right and powers of these institutions.
We maintained that for years, under Bulelani Ngcuka, the NPA was abused to persecute Jacob Zuma. The opposition parties' personalised attacks on Advocate Mpshe for taking his bold decision has exposed the hypocrisy of these self-appointed champions of the rule of law and defence of our constitution. We are dealing with double standards and hidden agendas of people whose primary pre-occupation is power at all costs and to defeat of our agenda to transform this country.
When several operatives of the former apartheid killing squads and security forces entered into deals with the NPA that set them free, we never heard of such strange coalitions. Are we not right to sense racism, double standards and a hidden agenda being advanced under the pretext of defending the rule of law?
What kind of respect for the law says that we must defend institutions of law enforcement when they make decisions we like, but attack them and their agents when they make decisions we do not like, even if they have followed due processes of the law?
Advocate Wim Trengrove is one of the lawyers who has benefitted immensely from the 8 years of NPA persecution of ANC President Jacob Zuma. The NPA decision to drop all the charges means he will no longer receive his monthly income. He is now angry and making wild allegations that the dropping of the charges represents a tipping point in the rule of law. That is absolute nonsense! There is no threat to the rule of law; the threat is that the R110 million already wasted in political games has come to an end.
Siyanqoba Rally
COSATU calls on all its members to attend in their numbers the Siyanqoba rally on Sunday 19th April. It will send a clear signal that the ANC is ready to win a clear and decisive majority on 22 April and that the ANC is the people's movement, determined and able to meet the needs of the people and advance their interests.
The rally starts at 9am on Sunday 19 April at Coca-Cola Park (formerly Ellis Park) and the Johannesburg Stadium. It will include a live music programme that will feature a number of prominent artists.
The rally will be broadcast live via satellite to the following centres:
- Eastern Cape: Dampi Adams Sports Field, Queenstown
- Free State: Charles Mopeli Stadium, Qwaqwa
- KwaZulu Natal: Edgewood College Sports Ground, Ethekwini
- Limpopo: Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane
- Mpumalanga: Kanyamazane Stadium, Nelspruit
- North West: Montshioa Stadium, Mafikeng
- Northern Cape: Galeshewe Stadium, Kimberley
- Western Cape: Nyanga Stadium, Cape Town
Let us once and for all, bury the opposition parties' anti-poor agenda and their attempts to take us back to the dark days of apartheid, through manipulation and blackmail. Now is the time to take the brakes off and speed up change. It is time to take our hard-won democracy to new heights, to create equality in access to opportunities without regard to race, colour, sex and class. All workers and their families must vote ANC!
Statement issued by COSATU, April 16 2009
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