The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) is to picket outside singer Patti Labelle’s Sun City concert this weekend over the playing of a CD with lyrics insulting former president Nelson Mandela.
The North West branch of Cosatu said on Wednesday it would march to the resort on Saturday to hand over a memorandum on its concerns.
Marchers would move from the main road of Moses Kotane Municipality to Sun City’s main gate.
Cosatu has urged Sun City to ban the security firm Falcon Security, whose chief executive officer Ben Burger was arrested after the playing of the CD. Burger has already appeared in court over the matter.
Falcon Security has provided security at the international resort for the past 14 years.
The company announced earlier in the day that its operations manager Warren Alberts had been suspended over the CD incident.
The company said it was investigating the playing of the CD at a Sun International staff function on Saturday.
On Tuesday, police claimed that, during a competition, a CD was played ”containing remixed lyrics of the national anthem” which called former president Nelson Mandela a ”kaffir”.
Burger appeared in the Mogwase District Court on Tuesday on a charge of crimen injuria, and was released on bail of R1Â 500.
In a statement, it was said he attended the staff potjiekos family day at Sun City where various CDs were presented to be played.
He did not hear a 15-second snippet of the song and was not near the company stand when it was played. However, he was surrounded by police after someone complained.
He threw the CD into a dustbin. He did not understand why he was arrested because he was innocent.
Sun International’s publicity company hoped to comment on Cosatu’s concerns soon. — Sapa