South Africa: What's Happening In South African News - May 2, 2022

GCIS / Flickr, Economic Freedom Fighters, Government of South Africa, Wikipedia
President Cyril Ramaphosa, Economic Freedom Fighters flag, Senzo Meyiwa funeral, South African flag (file photo).
2 May 2022
allAfrica.com
By Esther Rose

Cape Town —  

President Ramaphosa Booed Off Stage at Cosatu Workers' Day Celebrations

President Cyril Ramaphosa prevented from addressing the Cosatu workers' rally at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium in Phokeng in Rustenburg yesterday, when angry Sibanye-Stillwater gold mineworkers who have been on strike for several weeks, heckled him off the stage.

This could be the first in Ramaphosa's presidency where he has been forced to abandon addressing this historic event. The May Day rally is an important event in the Tripartite Alliance (ANC, Cosatu, SACP) calendar. The workers - angry at Cosatu's handling of their wage strike crisis - shouted for Ramaphosa to "go". He was escorted by his bodyguard into a police vehicle and whisked away.

EFF Wants to Start Own Union

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)  is planning to launch its own union soon. According to reports, party leader Julius Malema, In his address at a May Day rally in Middelburg, Mpumalanga province, said that his party's  labour desk was often challenged, when it intervened with employers as it was not a labour union.  Malema said: "That union will never sell out. That union will always be on the side of the workers". He added that South African unions were taking the side of employers, saying this created a vacuum for the workers, which the EFF intends to fill.

Plot Thickens Around Senzo Meyiwa Lawyer's Court Arrest

Advocate  Malesela Teffo was arrested and handcuffed in court, just as the case against the four men he is representing in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial, was postponed. Meyiwa who was shot and killed on October 26, 2014, was the Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates goalkeeper at the time of his death. Teffo claims that he was unaware that he had to appear in court on an assault charge in February this year, after failing to appear in early January 2022.  The court noted neither Teffo nor his attorney informed the court about him being unable to appear due to presenting with Covid-19 symptoms - the reason he gave his lawyer to offer the court. Teffo is on R10,000 bail for contempt of court.

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