Zuma, DA gets tongue-lashing from Ehrenreich
|Published
OUTSPOKEN: Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu Secretary General OUTSPOKEN: Tony Ehrenreich, Cosatu Secretary General
Cape Town – Cosatu in the Western Cape has slammed President Jacob Zuma for lack of leadership and has publicly endorsed Cyril Ramaphosa as the new ANC president.
At the same, it said the Western Cape ruling party, the Democratic Alliance, has failed the people of the Cape Flats.
The trade union federation on Monday released its “report card” for the province, and says the DA has failed the final exams.
Cosatu Secretary General Tony Ehrenreich said Cosatu has done “a full evaluation” of the state of the Western Cape and found massive inequality along racial lines.
Ehrenreich claimed that while the “elitist white Capetonian lives in paradise with better services, provided by the DA, the Cape Flats is a horror story”.
“It is evident when you drive through Sea Point and when you go through the Flats," he says.
“There is a difference in sanitation, safety and security, the swimming facilities, the roads and even the homes.
“Our people are left with nothing and it is because this province is governed by the Democratic Alliance.
“The Cape Flats would not be suffering if another party were in power."
Ehrenreich then took a swipe at Zuma, who has been under fire following several scandals, saying South Africa has a leadership crisis.
“There needs to be serious discussions about the decisions President Zuma made when he placed different people in leadership roles," he said. “He must be held accountable and answer for his mistakes made. The buck ultimately stops with him..."
Ehrenreich said Cosatu Western Cape is “very pleased” endorse Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa as the new ANC President come 2017.
“We believe that this announcement will go a long way in comforting the members of Cosatu who have been concerned about the latest developments in the government that has led to billions of rands of their savings in pension funds being wiped out.
“The concerns in the ANC have led to an exodus of support in the ANC by workers at election time, which poses a significant threat to the process of transformation in South Africa.
“Many of these areas of weaknesses must be accepted by the present President of the ANC and the country, because the buck stops by the leader.
He added: “Cosatu Western Cape hopes that the instability in the ANC and in the country will be restored with this positive development in respect of the leadership challenges that exist.”