Karima Brown and Amy Musgrave
5 September 2008
Johannesburg — THE Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has unveiled a battle plan to have African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma's fraud charges dropped.
This would include becoming a friend of the court in Zuma's bid to launch a stay of prosecution, a possible national strike and "engaging" business, the judiciary and churches on its campaign.
Cosatu warned yesterday that its decision to join Zuma in court could lead to the "exposure of the truth behind the arms deal", which it said could implicate a number of others.
While Zuma has to answer to 16 charges of corruption, there have been newspaper reports linking President Thabo Mbeki to SA's multibillion-rand arms deal.
Cosatu's plan follows mounting calls for the corruption charges against Zuma to be dropped and for a "political solution" to be found.
This has support from sections of the business community, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the ANC.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi stressed that the federation's position did not amount to undermining the rule of law, but that it "genuinely" feared the consequences of Zuma being found guilty. "I don't want this to be taken out of context, but the CEC (central executive committee) is really worried about the mood of workers and we fear what the reaction will be.
"The belief among workers and South Africans that the ANC president is a target of machinations runs very deep," he said.
"We are talking to business privately. There is overwhelming sentiment that we cannot afford this," Vavi said.
Cosatu outlined 14 reasons why it believed Zuma would not get a fair trial, one being that his prosecution was selective.
Allegations that SACP boss Blade Nzimande had been "set up" by businessman Charles Modise, who claimed he gave Nzimande a R500000 donation, were highlighted as the latest example of how state institutions have been manipulated in the Zuma affair.
The executive committee also discussed a number of options to end the seven-year legal impasse between Zuma and the National Prosecuting Authority, including the possibility of passing legislation that would prevent a sitting president from being prosecuted.
It is understood that Vavi will discuss the matter with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and retired chief justice Arthur Chaskalson.
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A puppet of the Cosatu/SACP alliance if I ever saw one.Throw in the ANCYL and ANCWL for good measure.