The South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) has never called for Jacob Zuma to be president of South Africa, the union’s general secretary, Randall Howard, said on Wednesday.
”We have never spoken about comrade Jacob Zuma for president. This [Satawu] is not an African National Congress structure.
”We can’t do that,” he told Satawu’s second national congress in Johannesburg.
The union supported the idea that there was a conspiracy against the ANC’s deputy president and supported a fair and speedy trial.
Referring to Zuma’s recent rape case, Howard said the union condemned any leader who had unsafe sex with an HIV-positive woman.
”However, we should admire [Zuma] for admitting that he made a mistake,” said Howard.
On the subject of Aids, he called for the ”minister of beetroot, lemon and garlic and African potato” [Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang] to be removed from office.
”She’s uncaring against the background of a loss of life. She’s arrogant, she must go.”
He made a call for ”proper political leadership” on Aids and encouraged the union’s members to speak about the disease openly and ”not in the corridors”.
Howard echoed calls made by South African Communist Party deputy secretary Jeremy Cronin on Tuesday that the government’s macro-economic growth policies were failing the poor and needed to be changed. Black economic empowerment (BEE), too, had its limitations and was not able to resolve poverty and unemployment.
”Satawu will not accept BEE that undermines living wages,” he said.
He said the union should not be shy to criticize the ANC when it was not acting in the interests of the working class.
The union had to speak about how to deal with the possibility of voting the ANC into power and then being ignored. He said Satawu had to get something in return for its support.
”If you’re in an alliance like this you have to get something out in real terms.” — Sapa